PPP's Nisar Khuhro wins Senate seat vacated by Faisal Vawda

PPP Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has won the Senate seat that fell vacant after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Senator Faisal Vawda for life under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, Aaj News reported on Wednesday.

The by-election on the vacant Senate seat was held today in the Sindh Assembly.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its coalition partner in Centre, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), had announced to boycott the election.

“Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also disqualified on dual nationality and his case is still pending with the Supreme Court,” PTI Sindh President and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi said in a Twitter post on Tuesday while explaining his party's decision to oppose the polls.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that PPP’s Nisar Khuhro, PTI’s Agha Arsalan, and independent candidates Ali Ahmed, Gul Mohammad Jakhrani, and Mukhtiar Damrah will take part in the by-election on the vacant general seat in the Senate from Sindh.

PPP nominates Nisar Khuhro for Senate seat

Last month, ECP had disqualified PTI Senator Faisal Vawda over concealment of his dual nationality at the time of contesting the National Assembly election on a Karachi seat in the 2018 elections.

A three-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja comprising Nisar Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi had reserved the verdict last year in December on applications seeking disqualification of Vawda for allegedly concealing the information about his dual nationality.

The petitions argued that Vawda was a dual national at the time of filing his nomination papers to contest the 2018 general election.

ECP disqualifies PTI's Faisal Vawda in dual nationality case

The petition added that the PTI leader had submitted his nomination papers to the ECP on June 11, 2018, and had allegedly applied for renunciation of his US nationality after that.

The petition also argued that Vawda had made a false statement on oath in the affidavit given to the ECP and hence should be disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution, which means the PTI leader will not be able to contest elections again.