SC to take up Vawda’s plea against disqualification today

The Supreme Court will take up Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda’s petition today (Monday) in which he has challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order, disqualifying him from parliamentary politics for life on account of holding dual nationality at the time of 2018 general elections.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial will hear the case.

Vawda on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 185 (3) of the Constitution for leave to appeal against the order of the ECP dated February 9 and a judgement of the Islamabad High Court dated February 16, 2022.

Filed through Barrister Waseem Sajjad, Vawda contended that the ECP order dated February 9 and the Islamabad High Court judgment dated February 16, 2022 are arbitrary and without lawful authority and of no legal effect, adding that it is also contrary to the judgements of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the ECP’s decision to hand Vawda a lifetime disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution has stirred a strong debate whether the electoral body had the constitutional mandate to pass such orders.

In August last year, the Supreme Court had held that the ECP had no power to consider the qualification or disqualification of an election candidate or an assembly member.

"In our view there is no power or jurisdiction inherent in the commission itself in terms of Article 218(3) to consider the qualification/disqualification of a candidate/member, whether as an independent, standalone issue or as part of an election dispute," the majority judgment authored by Justice Munib Akhtar and endorsed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah said.