KARACHI: SHC admits plea against delimitation of constituencies
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, July 19: While admitting a constitutional petition of Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, who has challenged delimitation of constituencies in the province, for hearing on July 26, a division bench of the Sindh High Court gave on Friday the state last chance to defend itself on Aftab Shaban Mirani’s petition.
The bench comprised Justice Ataur Rahman and Justice Zia Pervez.
Former minister of railways M. H. K. Bijarani, in his petition, has contended that “this clandestine act of the Election Commission of Pakistan is extra-legal, without jurisdiction and violative of the principles of natural justice, as it drastically altered the delimitations and constituted technically unsound and irrational constituencies, after having issued final notification, just to accommodate a particular candidate.”
Appearing in person Mr Bijarani contended that article 218 (3) of the constitution clearly provided that “it shall be the duty of the Election Commission constituted in relation to an election to organize and conduct election and to make such arrangements as are necessary to ensure that the elections are conducted honestly, fairly and in accordance with law, and that corrupt practices are guarded against.”
Section 9 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act of 1974 explicitly says that “all constituencies shall as far as practicable be delimited having regard to the distribution of population in geographically compact areas, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience and other cognate factors to ensure homogeneity in the creation of constituencies.”
In pursuance of the provisions of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act of 1974, read with the conduct of the General Elections Order 2002, district Jacobabad had been allocated three National and six provincial assembly seats on the basis of the 1998 census, he submitted. The district consisted of five talukas, ie, Garhi-Khairo, Jacobabad, Thul, Kandhkot and Kashmore, connected to one another like a chain from west to east.
It is his contention that preliminary delimitation proposals were prepared by the full Commission, but the objections were heard by a single member in the Sindh High Court on June 3, in contravention of the past practice giving rise to a legal lacuna.
The petitioner has been deprived of his legal right of being heard by all the five members of the Election Commission. Since the full Commission did not hear the petitioner, legal and constitutional requirements were not fulfilled. Therefore, a single member cannot amend, alter or modify the unanimously adopted preliminary delimitations notified by the Commission, as it lacks legal jurisdiction and moral justification. Hence severe violation of the relevant provisions of the 1974 Act and the Election Commission Order 2002 has been committed, rendering all subsequent changes to the preliminary delimitations redundant, illegal and unconstitutional.
He has submitted that Kandhkot taluka consists of four Supervisory Tapedar Circles, ie, Kandhkot STC & Ghouspur STC, both adjacent to Kashmore taluka located in the east, and Lashari STC & Tangwani STC both adjacent to Thul taluka situated in the west of Kandhkot taluka.
As per preliminary delimitations Tangwani STC, Lashari STC and adjoining portion of Kandhkot STC were included in NA-209 along with three STCs of Thul taluka, ie, Misripur STC, Thul STC and Abrader STC, in order to constitute a contiguous and compact constituency. Similarly, Ghouspur STC and adjoining Kandhkot TC, including Kandhkot city, were attached to adjacent Kashmore taluka so as to constitute NA-210.
It is his claim that to facilitate certain favourable candidates, two National and three provincial constituencies were unnecessarily disturbed in the final notification, whereby Tangwani STC of Kandhkot taluka situated adjacent to Thul taluka was attached to Kashmore taluka to form part of NA-210, while Kandhkot STC located adjacent to Kashmore taluka has been included in Thul taluka to constitute NA-209. Consequently, the people of Kandhkot, the largest taluka of Jacobabad district, have been deprived of a fair opportunity of being represented in the National Assembly as its four STCs have been unduly added in couples to three STCs each of Kashmore and Thul talukas, providing them a clear and distinct electoral edge and political advantage over Kandhkot taluka.
By doing so the east-west distance of both these constituencies had unnecessarily been increased by at least 20 km, disturbing the compactness of the constituencies as well as adding to public inconvenience, he claimed. It was absolutely irrational and preposterous to make Kandhkot city part of Thul constituency and Tangwani town part of Kashmore constituency, as they fell in two opposite directions.
Astoundingly, Mr Bijarani contended, a 10-km wide patch of NA-210 fell in between the two ends of NA-209. Similarly, a five-km strip of NA-209 intersected the territory of NA-210 while travelling by road or rail between Kashmore and Thul, which was bawling for voters as well as for prospective candidates of both these constituencies.
He also submitted that Tangwani STC and Lashari STC of Kandhkot taluka formed part of Thul provincial constituency, while Kandhkot STC and Ghouspur STC were part of Kashmore provincial constituency during the 1970 general elections when Jacobabad district was allocated only one National and three provincial assembly seats.
According to the final notification, PS-16 has been altered in a manner that it overlaps into two National constituencies, that is, NA-209 & NA-210, and contains the largest population, that is, 2.66 lakh, when PS-13 has 2.08 lakh. Similarly, PS-17 also overlaps into NA-209 & NA-210, as the isolated Kandhkot city located within PS-16 has been invalidly made part of PS-17 in the form of an island without being geographically connected to PS-17, in blatant violation of the principles of compactness and contiguity provided in Section 9 of the Act of 1974. Kandhkot city, a detached part of PS-17, is at least five km from the nearest point and is physically surrounded by Kandhkot tape, which is part of PS- 16.
He has prayed that in view of the above facts he has prayed that preliminary delimitation proposals regarding three National and six provincial constituencies, published by the Election Commission through gazette notification No F 10 (2 )/ 2002- SMW dated 26th March 2002 should be accepted and declared final delimitation of Jacobabad district, being most judicious, fair and rational.
The six provincial constituencies finally declared by the EC through gazette notification No F10 (116 )/ 2002-Cord dated 28th June 2002, read with corrigendum dated 4th July 2002, should be coupled together to constitute three National constituencies in order to avoid overlapping.
Hence PS-13 & PS-14 may constitute NA-208. Similarly, PS-15 & PS-16 may form NA-209 and PS- 17 & PS-18 may jointly compose NA-210.
Mr Bijarani has prayed that each one of the three National constituencies, finally published by the EC, through gazette notification No F 10 (116 )/ 2002 - Cord dated 28th June 2002, should be bifurcated into two equal and balanced territories, to constitute the required six provincial constituencies without any overlapping or intermingling. Hence NA-208 may be logically bifurcated to form PS-13 & PS-14. Similarly, NA-209 may be rationally divided to constitute PS-15 & PS-16, and NA-210 may be equally apportioned to create PS-17 & PS-18, respectively.
When the petition of Aftab Shaban Mirani against registration of fake voters by the District Registration Officer and Revising Authority, Taluka Khanpur, District Shikarpur, came up before the same bench, an additional advocate- general sought time.
The court allowed the request as a “last chance” and directed that an earlier order passed by a bench, headed by the Chief Justice of the SHC, should be complied with.
The bench then directed the government to produce information and relevant material to establish how many votes were registered by the respondent No 4 (Revising Authority) on the relevant date and relevant time.
