SC emphasizes fair nomination scrutiny

The Supreme Court has noted that returning officers (ROs) must scrutinise all the nomination papers submitted to them in the best interest of justice and to uphold the fundamental right of any individual to contest elections

"Returning officers must remember that it is a fundamental right of an individual to contest elections … if they sabotage an individual not only do they rob [them] of their fundamental right but they also rob the populace at large of voting for that [them], which is also a fundamental right protected by the Constitution,” read an 11-page detailed judgment authored by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan on the acceptance of the nomination papers of a candidate, Shaukat Mahmood.

A three-judge bench, led by Justice Munib Akhtar, heard the matter. The detailed judgment observed that ROs were an integral part of the electoral process and it was highly unbecoming of any of them to exercise the authority conferred upon them in a manner which sabotaged the electoral process.

"We have carefully perused the one-page notification multiple times, and in any of those instances have not come across any official ‘office hours’.

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With due respect to the returning officer, if the ECP [Election Commission of Pakistan] has fixed the last date for scrutiny of nomination papers as 30.12.2023, the returning officer has no right to determine the cut-off period on 30.12.2023 or what ‘office hours’ he or she will operate until on the last date, i.e. 30.12.2023.

In our view, until the clock strikes midnight on 30.12.2023 or whatever the last date of the scrutiny of nomination paper[s] may be for any future election, the returning officer must scrutinise all nomination papers submitted to him [or her] in the best interest of justice and to uphold the fundamental right of any individual to contest [the] elections."

Justice Irfan Saadat also pointed out that elections were the bedrock of a democracy and the 16th president of the US, Abraham Lincoln, had once said the polls belonged to the people.

“Therefore, it is essential that those wishing to contest [the] elections be facilitated as far as is legally permissible.

It goes without saying that it is against democratic norms and principles to add technical bottlenecks in the way of any individual, who is a citizen of this country, trying contest [the] elections.

And in this backdrop, it is pertinent to say that electoral laws and rules cannot be used as an arbitrary filtering mechanism, dependent on the whims of a returning officer,” the verdict read. 

”Therefore, a returning officer should exercise the discretional powers available to [them] in a rational and meticulous manner.”