Petition seeking Faisal Vawda's disqualification filed in SHC

Petition alleges the PTI leader omitted details of foreign properties, bank accounts

KARACHI: A petition demanding disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA-elect Faisal Vawda was submitted in the Sindh High Court on Thursday, Express News reported.

In the July 25 polls, Vawda emerged as a winner with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif trailing in Karachi's constituency with a narrow margin of 718 votes.

In his application Pakistan Peoples Party’s Qadir Mandokhel claimed that the NA-249 (Karachi West II) winner omitted details of foreign bank accounts and properties in the affidavit submitted alongside the nomination papers. It said that the offshore assets were shown procured through debt, however, money trail of the properties was missing.



The petition added that Vawda failed to pay taxes in the fiscal year of 2015-16 despite owning properties worth billions of rupees. Recalling that an earlier application regarding dual nationality had been rejected by the returning officer, the PPP leader stressed that there was no record of Vawda surrendering his US citizenship.

Noting that Vawda violated Article 62 of the Constitution, Mandokhel prayed to the high court to disqualify the PTI leader.



Earlier, SHC sustained a petition filed by the former Punjab chief minister seeking a recount in NA-249 and barred ECP from issuing a final notification of the results. Shebaz claimed his polling agent had been removed from the room during the vote count while the presiding officer issued results on a plain paper and not on Form 45 as per the law.

In his petition, the PML-N leader said law enforcement agencies removed his banners and posters ahead of the elections while turning a blind eye to violations committed by Vawda during his election campaign. Sharif had requested the SHC to stay the ECP from issuing a notification on Vawda’s victory, secure records and order a recount.