KARACHI: SHC annuls recounting of votes in two UCs
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 3: The Sindh High Court annulled on Saturday recounting of votes for the offices of nazim and naib nazim in two union councils at the behest of winning candidates.
Petitioners Mohammad Hanif and Ameer Hamza, nazim and naib nazim-elect of UC-4, Baba Bhit, Keamari, Karachi, and Sadiq Ali Laghari, nazim-elect, UC Jaffar Khan Leghari, taluka Sinjhoro, district Sanghar, challenged recounting of votes ordered by the respective returning officers on orders from the chief election commissioner (CEC) on Aug 23 following complaints of grave irregularities by their defeated rivals.
While the Keamari UC
result had been notified, the notification in respect of the Sanghar UC was withheld in view of recounting.
Advocates Ziaul Haq Makhdoom and A.D. Hotwani, counsel for the petitioners, argued that once the results are notified in terms of Rule 38(3) of the Sindh Local Government Election Rules, 2005, and Form XVI is issued in pursuance thereto, the returning officer and the CEC become ‘functus officio’ and devoid of any power to deal with any complaints or make any order in respect of counting. Any challenge to the election after consolidation and publication of results could be made only through an election petition before an election tribunal.
Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan agreed with the legal position set forth by the counsel and submitted that it was precisely for this reason that the CEC subsequently ordered that the complaints should be treated as election petitions and be referred to the competent tribunals already constituted by the election commission for the purpose. Accordingly, the recounting scheduled for the Keamari UC for Sept 3 had been cancelled. The AG placed before the court a notification issued by the CEC on Sept 1.
The petitioners’ counsel maintained that the CEC was not left with any power even to refer complaints to election tribunals, which had to be moved directly by the aggrieved candidates. The division bench, comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Mohammad Afzal Soomro struck down the recounting orders passed by the RO and the CEC.
