KARACHI: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday rejected an appeal against the nomination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda for the March 3 Senate election.
The decision was announced on the appeal of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhail against the approval of Vawda’s papers.
In the petition, Mandokhail had maintained that Vawda was still a sitting MP and a federal minister while an earlier complaint against him was still pending before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) — and a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) — for not disclosing his US nationality in the nomination papers filed during the general elections in 2018.
The appellant further argued that a sitting MP or federal minister cannot apply or file a nomination form for the Senate unless he filed an application to give up his National Assembly seat and ministerial responsibilities.
Vawda’s bid for the House was accepted by the ECP on February 18 before being challenged on February 20.
PTI leaders from rural Sindh had approached Governor Imran Ismail, also a PTI stalwart, to express their reservations and demanded the party’s high command cancel the nomination of Saifullah Abro and Vawda.
Eight appeals were filed against the decisions of the returning officers over acceptance and rejection of the Senate hopefuls from Sindh.
Two appeals were filed against Abro, while an appeal was filed against the acceptance of Vawda’s nomination papers on a general seat.
