Feb 28, 2022: The Supreme Court will hear the petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Wawda today in which he challenged the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to disqualify him from politics for life.
He was disqualified from parliamentary politics for life for having a dual nationality at the time of the 2018 general election. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial will hear the case.
Vawda on Friday filed an application in the Supreme Court under Article 185 (3) of the Constitution seeking permission to appeal against the ECP order dated February 9 and the decision of the Islamabad High Court dated February 16, 2022.
Challenging the legal position of the order the ECP dated February 9 and a judgement of the Islamabad High Court dated February 16, 2022, Vawda filed the petition through Barrister Waseem Sajjad.
He contended that the mentioned orders were arbitrary and without lawful authority and of no legal effect, adding that they were also contrary to the judgements of the Supreme Court.
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.
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