MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Tuesday admitted for hearing a petition filed by former ambassador Mohammad Masood Khan, seeking inclusion of his name in the voters list of his native village, and granted him provisional permission to contest the presidential election slated for Aug 16.

Mr Khan, who belongs to a suburb of Rawalakot city falling in the constituency LA-19, Poonch-III, has been nominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as its candidate for the office of AJK president. But it turned out that his name did not figure in the electoral rolls for the 2016 general elections, which were published on May 30.

On Friday, Mr Khan applied before the assistant commissioner of Rawalakot, the registration officer (RO) for the constituency, for his enrolment in the voters list of his native village. But his plea was turned down by the official on the grounds that he had failed to get himself registered as a voter at the appropriate time.

On Monday, he submitted a similar application before the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal. But he also dismissed the plea, stating that the order issued by the RO was neither appealable before the CEC nor revisable by him.

Mr Khan was advised to seek appropriate remedy, ie from the revising authority (deputy commissioner concerned).

However, in view of time constraints, his counsel Raja Mohammad Hanif filed a petition in the high court on Tuesday, assailing the orders of the RO and the CEC for being “without lawful authority”.

The counsel requested the court to direct the respondents to include Mr Khan’s name in the electoral rolls besides accepting his nomination papers and allowing him to participate in the presidential election.

He contended that the petitioner was the nominee of the AJK’s ruling party for the office of president and non-inclusion of his name in the voter list would deprive him of his right to exercise adult franchise and to participate in the presidential election.

He pleaded that either the schedule for the presidential election be suspended till the disposal of the petition or the operation of the orders of the registration officer and the CEC be ‘provisionally’ suspended to enable Mr Khan to contest the election.

The bench comprising Justice M. Tabassum Aftab Alvi, Justice Azhar Saleem Babar and Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja held that since the points raised in the petition, particularly the vires of Rule 20 of the AJK Electoral Roll Rules 1970, Section 15-A the AJK Electoral Rolls Ordinance 1970 and Sub-section 4-C of Section 5 of the AJK Interim Constitution Act 1974, needed detailed examination, the petition was admitted for regular hearing.

However, in view of the urgency of the matter, the bench exempted the requirements of Rule 34 of the High Court Procedure Rules 1984, whereby a seven-day notice is served on respondents to seek their comments, and directed the RO to register Mr Khan’s name in the electoral rolls on a provisional basis.

“Impugned directions of the RO and the CEC are suspended till decision of the case. The order is, however, subject to objections from the other side. The petitioner would therefore be entitled to participate in the election process scheduled for August 16,” the bench held, fixing Sept 8 as the next date of hearing.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016