MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Friday set aside a decision of the AJK High Court, whereby a Pakistan-based Kashmiri refugee was debarred from contesting elections from AJK territory.

Shah Ghulam Qadir, secretary general of the AJK chapter of PML-N, had contested last general elections to the AJK Assembly, held in May 2011, from Neelum valley (LA-XXIII, Neelum-1), on the basis of his vote registered in Khawaja Seri village of the said constituency.

Previously, he had contested elections to the AJK Assembly from LA-XL, Valley-5, a Kashmiri refugees’ constituency in Rawalpindi. Before filing his nomination papers from Neelum valley, he had, however, got his vote deleted from the electoral roll of LA-XL.

Sardar Gul-e-Khandan, a former MLA from Neelum valley, had objected to his nomination papers before the concerned Returning Officer (RO) but the objection was turned down. His appeal to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) against RO’s order was also dismissed.

Mr Qadir did contest the May 2011 election but lost to the People’s Party’s Mian Abdul Waheed by a close margin.

Mr Khandan later challenged the orders of RO and CEC in the AJK High Court through a writ petition, which was partly accepted. The orders of RO and CEC were nullified by the high court on November 29, last year.  

Mr Khandan’s petition had also sought nullification of subsections (2) and (3) of section 2 of the AJK Legislative Assembly Ordinance, 1970, but that plea was turned down by the High Court.

Both Mr Qadir and Mr Khandan challenged the said judgment in the AJK Supreme Court.

Retired ustice (R) Syed Manzoor Hussain Gilani, a former judge of the AJK’s apex court, who was requested to assist the bench, argued that the name of Mr Qadir was validly entered in the electoral roll of village Khawaja Seri.

He was duly qualified to be a candidate from the said constituency under Section 24 of the Act, 1974 and the provisions contained in the Ordinance, 1970, he said.

However, the apex court held that section 12 of the Electoral Rolls Ordinance, 1970, conferred a right on a state subject that if he possessed a dwelling house or other immovable property in more than one electoral areas, he was eligible to be enrolled as voter in any of the electoral areas at his discretion.

“Therefore, the orders regarding acceptance of nomination papers of Mr Qadir by the RO and the CEC are valid orders and the judgment of the HC on this point is non-maintainable and hence is being set aside,” held the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Azam Khan, Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Zia and Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2014