KARACHI, Nov 8: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Friday Sindh Democratic Alliance President Imtiaz Sheikh’s plea and upheld the Election Commission order of Oct 28 declaring Agha Tariq Khan the returned candidate from PS-11 (Shikarpur-III).
A division bench, comprising Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Syed Ali Aslam Jaferi, however, left it open to the petitioner to approach the competent election tribunal if he felt aggrieved by the EC notification of Oct 28 cancelling its notification of Oct 20 in his favour and notifying his rival as the returned candidate by means of a corrigendum.
The contents of the petition have raised such additional grounds as are fit to be agitated through an election petition under section 52 of the Representation of People Act, the bench observed in its 18-page disposal order.
Refraining from a detailed discussion of other points lest it may cause prejudice to either party in subsequent litigation, the petition was disposed of on the short ground that a mistake apparent on the face of the record declaring an incorrect result was against the object of holding just, fair, honest and transparent elections and did not fall within the definition of “election dispute,” which could be decided only by an election tribunal. It could be rectified by the EC under section 103AA of the Representation of People Act.
Summing up the events that led to the EC order of Oct 28, the bench observed that the preliminary results received in the commission’s office through fax/ phone on Oct 11 showed Agha Tariq to have won the Oct 10 polls from PS-11. He secured 17,575 votes, inclusive of a postal ballot, while Imtiaz Sheikh obtained 15,900. However, the count contained in Form XVII said to have been sent by the returning officer, indicated that Agha Tariq had received only 14,996 votes. Though no mode of transmission of the form was mentioned on it, the EC acted bona fide on it and declared Imtiaz Sheikh the successful candidate by its notification of Oct 20.
RO Anand Ram sent a clarification to the EC on Oct 22. He informed the commission that Agha Tariq bagged 17,575 votes and was, therefore, the winner. The EC held an inquiry, and in his report to the commission on Oct 25 the RO said he had also submitted the result of the count to the provincial election commissioner and the assistant election commissioner of Shikarpur. The provincial election commissioner endorsed the RO’s statement in his own report to the EC. He said there was a bonafide typographical error.
The EC cancelled its earlier notification and issued a new one on Oct 28 after going through the record and hearing the parties. It held the matter did not involve an election dispute but was confined to an error apparent on the face of the record.
The bench relied on a Lahore High Court judgment that declared that an election result on the basis of incorrect data could not be treated as a “result” under the law. It was the duty of the Election Commission to rectify it without treating it as an election dispute.
PEARL CASE: A division bench of the Sindh High Court put off on Friday the hearing of a detention matter till Nov 22, adds APP.
The bench consisted of Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice S. Ali Aslam Jafri.
Lt-Col Abdul Waheed Khawaja (retd) moved the court against alleged illegal detention of his son Zubair Khawaja, wanted by the Sindh police in connection with the murder case of Daniel Pearl, a reporter working with Wall Street Journal.
When the petition came up for hearing, Additional Advocate-General Sindh Sarwar Khan stated that the alleged detainee was not in the custody of the Sindh police and not confined in any police station or police lockup in the province.
Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar stated on behalf of the Pakistan Rangers that the alleged detainee was not in the custody of the Rangers either.
Khawaja Naveed, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the father of the detainee visited his son and provided food and clothes to him.
There was no reason to believe that the detainee was not in the custody of the authorities, said the counsel.
The court expressed dismay at the disappearance of a citizen, and put off further hearing to Nov 22.
