ISLAMABAD: A Supreme Court bench, hearing an election-related dispute, decided on Tuesday to refer all such matters to Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and requested that all disputes related to polls be clubbed together for a uniform decision.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Saqib Nisar, observed that matters relating to the elections should be fixed before a specially-constituted bench, so that such cases may be decided uniformly and unanimously, rather than separately.

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The court also directed the registrar’s office to compile all election-related cases that the Supreme Court is currently seized with and referred the same to the chief justice for final approval.

Court seeks clarification of Nadra’s role in electoral process

This decision was taken by the bench while hearing a petition filed by Mohammad Ibrahim Jatoi of the National People’s Party (NPP) regarding a dispute on the election on the National Assembly seat from NA-202 Shikarpur-I.

Akram Sheikh, the petitioner’s counsel, argued that an election tribunal had declared Pakistan People’s Party’s Aftab Shahban Meerani the successful candidate after the Election Commission of Pakistan held re-polling in 20 polling stations in the constituency.

Meerani was declared the returned candidate after he secured 233 more votes than his opponent Jatoi in the re-poll.

A similar dispute had arisen between the same candidates, in the same constituency in the 2008 elections. When the matter came to the Supreme Court then, it had ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold re-polling in 18 polling stations of NA-202.

On Tuesday, the court observed that since allegations of electoral rigging and concerns around thumb verification processes, to be carried out by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), had become one of the major issues of the day, it would be prudent to have a uniform decision on all election-related disputes.

Since the decision to hold a re-poll was taken on the basis of a Nadra report that indicated that manipulation had occurred during the elections, the court said Nadra’s role should also be considered in such disputes.

The court also hinted at the need for legislation to amend the rules governing the authority if the government intended to vest it with the role of verifying votes in election complaints.

Had the election reforms suggested by the Supreme Court in its 2013 Workers Party judgment been adhered to, the country would not have been facing the political crisis it was currently involved in, the court regretted.

Mr Sheikh, the petitioner’s counsel, contented that the election tribunal had decided against his client on the basis of a Nadra report, when the authority had no role in the elections.

He also requested the court to provide guidelines by determining what role Nadra should have in the verification of votes.

Advocate Latif Khosa, appearing on behalf of Mr Meerani, appreciated the SC’s decision to club all election-related matters, recalling that parliament was also working on similar lines and that a 33-member parliamentary committee had been formed to improve and reform election laws.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014