ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court will hear on Wednesday (today) a petition against election as MNA of federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda from the NA-249 (Karachi West-II) constituency of the National Assembly.

Mr Vawda had secured 35,349 votes in the 2018 elections against president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif, who bagged 34,626 votes.

The petitioner, Qadir Khan Mandokhel, who contested the elections on a ticket of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), got 7,236 votes.

According to the petition, Mr Vawda was a US national but he concealed this fact in his nomination papers. The petitioner claimed that the defendant had submitted a false affidavit with the Election Commission of Pakistan along with his nomination papers to contest the election.

Since Mr Vawda had concealed his US nationality, he was not sagacious and honest as required under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, the petitioner argued.

Mr Mandokhel filed the petition through Advocate Raja Nazir.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021