SC allows dual-citizenship holders to vote for Senate chairmanship

The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday has ruled that the senators-elect who had dual citizenship would be allowed to vote in the Senate chairmanship polls.

According to local media reports, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has allowed the notifications of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) senator-elect Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's Haroon Akhtar Khan and Sadia Abbasi sister of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Baluchistan's independent candidate Kuhda Babar to be issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Saying that the dual citizenship matter was a complicated one,the CJP has decided to form a seven-member bench to deal with the case regarding dual nationality.

On March 5, Justice Nisar stopped the ECP from issuing the victory of the candidates in the Senate elections as they possessed dual nationalities. The ECP had then halted the process of declaring the candidates.

PTI's candidate, Sarwar had however refuted the charge and said that he renounced his British nationality in 2013. He had taken to Twitter and said, “Absolute baseless allegations circulating on the media that I am a dual national. I gave up my British nationality when I became the Governor of Punjab in 2013. I am now only a Pakistani passport holder.”

The election for Senate chairman will be held on Monday, March 12.