Not maintainable: SC throws out pleas against 2013 polls

Says there is no record on whether the elections were rigged or not.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed three petitions calling for the  top court to declare the May 2013 general elections null and void.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, was hearing three petitions – including one filed by Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, a former Supreme Court judge who was considered close to former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The other petitioners were Zahid Sarfraz and Daud Ghaznavi.

“Thank you, these petitions are dismissed,” Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk said to the petitioners, who failed to satisfy the bench about the maintainability of their pleas.

The bench observed that they could not overlook Article 225 of the Constitution which states: “No election to a house or a provincial assembly shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to such tribunal and in such manner as may be determined by an act of the Majlis-e-Shoora [Parliament].”



The chief justice said there was no record on whether or not last year’s elections were rigged and maintained that mere allegations were not enough to proceed in this matter.

“How will it be proved that elections were rigged?” he said, adding: “Can we decide the case on media reports as well as statements of parliamentarians?”

The chief justice also asked the counsel for Justice (retd) Siddiqui as to why he did not make parliamentarians a party in the petition, as they were the ones who would be affected, if the court declared the last year elections were rigged.

During the hearing, Siddiqui’s counsel Mian Allah Nawaz argued that the 2013 elections were a challenge to the “role and constitutional functions of the SC, and the court has the duty and power under Article 184(3) of the Constitution to come to the rescue of the beleaguered citizens of Pakistan.”

While referring to the court’s judgment in 1988, he observed that the right to vote was declared as a fundamental right of citizens in view of Article 17 of the Constitution.

Upon this, the chief justice observed that there is no dispute that the right to vote is a fundamental right of every citizen. The counsel contended that Article 225 is not applicable in this matter.

He went on to claim that ECP had purchased defective ink and supplied it to returning and presiding officers for use in polling stations and failed to follow the statutory pre-requisites to the electoral process.

He also claimed that all political parties had termed the last year general election ‘rigged’.

However, another member of the bench Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry observed that these were factual controversies but evidence was required to prove them.

Kokab Iqbal Advocate, counsel for another petitioner, said it was the case of massive corruption. “Therefore, the court should intervene in this matter,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, senior lawyer Tariq Mahmood – who witnessed the bench’s proceedings in the courtroom – said these petitions were liable to be dismissed.

He also criticised the former SC judge for filing a petition on a political issue. The counsel, however, said the court’s order in this case would not have legal effect over PTI’s movement against last year’s general elections.

The PTI’s senior leader Hamid Khan expressed his disappointment over the dismissal of former SC judge’s plea. “The SC should have accepted that petition for regular hearing in view of Article 184 (3) of the Constitution, as the court has already delivered judgment about election reforms in Workers Party case by using the same jurisdiction,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2014.