Raja ABDUL LATIF vs RASHID NASIM ABBASI and others
This is a petition for leave to appeal directed against the order of the High Court passed in a writ petition filed by respondent No.1, which sought and obtained a direction to the Returning Officer to include certain votes in specific wards following the 1997 local elections of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation. As a result of the High Court's order, the petitioner lost the election by a narrow margin of 11 votes. The petitioner contended before the Supreme Court that the High Court was not justified in issuing directions for the inclusion of votes after the election was concluded, arguing that such election disputes and questions regarding improperly excluded votes should be adjudicated solely by the specialized forums provided under the relevant electoral law rather than through constitutional writ jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of Pakistan considered these arguments and held that leave to appeal should be granted to examine whether the High Court was legally justified in issuing the impugned direction at the relevant time.
- Whether the High Court is justified in issuing directions for the inclusion of excluded votes after an election has concluded?
- Can questions regarding improperly excluded votes be adjudicated by the High Court under writ jurisdiction instead of the specialized forums provided under the relevant election law?
ORDER
1. ' AJMAL MIAN, C.J.---This is a petition for leave to appeal against the order, dated 19-5-1998 passed by a Division Bench in Writ Petition No,997 of 1998 filed by respondent No,1, for seeking direction to the Returning Officer/respondent No,2 to include the votes from serial Nos.933 to 964 (male) and 481 to 605 (female) in new Ward No,18 and Sub-ward No,8/3 of Ward No,9 (old), allowing the same.
2. ' The brief facts are that inter alia the petitioner and respondent No,1 contested the election in respect of Ward No,18 of Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, Rawalpindi, in 1997. It seems that after the above election, respondent No,1 filed the above writ petition, which was allowed by the above order dated 19-5-1998, and in consequence whereof the petitioner lost the election by 11 votes. The petitioner has, therefore, filed the present petition for leave to appeal.
3. ' In support of the above petition it has been vehemently contended by Mr. Muhammad Ilyas Siddiqui, learned counsel, for the petitioner, that the learned Judges of the Division Bench were not justified in issuing the above direction for inclusion of votes total of which comes to 2364 votes, as the question whether any vote was improperly excluded could have been adjudicated upon only by the forums provided under the relevant law and not by the High Court, particularly after the election was over.
4. We are inclined to grant leave to consider the question as to whether the High Court was justified to issue the above direction in view of the law obtaining at the relevant time. The appeal arising from the above petition may be fixed at an early date.