NASEEBULLAH vs SUBEDAR JAN MUHAMMAD
This petition is directed against the order of the High Court of Baluchistan which allowed a constitutional petition and set aside the orders of the Returning Officer and the appellate authority rejecting respondent No. 3's nomination papers. The core legal question concerned the validity of the rejection of nomination papers based on a purported mismatch between the proposer's signatures in English and those on his Identity Card, despite the proposer filing unchallenged affidavits affirming his signatures. The Supreme Court held that since the proposer's affidavit owning his signatures went unchallenged by the election authorities before the High Court, the matter resolved itself into a question of fact, and the High Court rightly granted relief. The petition was accordingly dismissed, affirming the decision to set aside the rejection and order a fresh election.
- Whether nomination papers can be rejected solely on the ground of a signature mismatch when the proposer files an unchallenged affidavit owning the signature?
- Does an unchallenged affidavit regarding the identity of a proposer convert the matter into a question of fact?
ORDER
' MUHAMMAD HALEEM, ACTG. C J.-This petition is directed against the order of the High Court of Baluchistan, dated the 9th of October, 1983, by which Constitution Petition No, 164 of 1983 was allowed and the order of the Returning Officer, dated the 25th of July, 1983, rejecting respondent No, 3's nomination papers and the order passed in appeal were set aside with the result that the petitioner was unseated and fresh election was ordered to be held in the Constituency.
2. The nomination papers were rejected on the ground that the signatures of the proposer of respondent No, 3, which were in English, did not tally with his signatures on the Identity Card. It is of consequence that at the stage of the appeal, the proposer Barkatullah himself filed an affidavit wherein he owned his signatures in English but this was not considered by the appellate authority.
Before the High Court, he again filed an affidavit which has gone unchallenged, as neither a counter-affidavit was filed to challenge it by the election authority, namely, the Commissioner, nor the Returning Officer to deny the identity of the proposer. The Assistant Advocate-General was also not in a position to dispute the contents of Barkatullah's affidavit. This being so the question resolved itself to one of fact, and the High Court rightly gave relief to respondent No, 3.
3. Before us the petitioner pleaded the same ground taken for the rejection of the nomination papers, which, in our opinion, is fallacious on the finding given by the High Court. There is no merit in this petition, which is dismissed.