Malik MANZOOR HUSSAIN vs ELECTION COMMISSION

ORDER

1. ' SH. RIAZ AHMAD, C.J.---This petition for leave to appeal assails the legality of order dated 23-10- 2002, whereby learned Judges of the Peshawar High Court- dismissed the writ petition preferred on behalf of the petitioner to call in question the orders dated 19-10-2002 and 21-10-2002 and for seeking a declaration to the effect that he was a returned candidate of PF-46 Abbottabad III.

2. ' Petitioner Malik Manzoor Hussain and 10 others had contested the Election held on 10-10-2002 and was declared as returned candidate. On 11-10-2002 one of the candidates namely Haji Qalandar Khan Lodhi filed a complaint before the Returning Officer alleging that Polling Station GPS Khali Dhar notified in the official Gazette was shifted to Polling Station Kalu Di Bandi which was not a notified Polling Station and its shifting on the day of polling had created confusion and thus the voters of Kali Dhar could not cast their votes. The Returning Officer hadfiled the complaint on the ground that shifting of the Polling Station was in line with the orders of the Member Election Commission N.-W.F.P. Peshawar dated 5-10-2002. Thereafter, Haji Qalandar Khan had filed a petition and the Election Commission of Pakistan, Islamabad in terms of order dated 21-10-2002 ordered re-polling in the Polling Station Government Primary School Kali Dhar. Being aggrieved, the petitioner, invoked the Constitutional jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court to call in question the above mentioned orders dated 19-10-2002 and ' 21-10-2002 and all other subsequent steps..

3. We have heard the learned counsels for the parties and have gone through the judgment impugned. It is abundantly clear that shifting of Polling Station from GPS Kali Dhar to GPS Kali Di Bandi gave rise confusion and inconvenience and thus majority of the voters were unable to cast their votes, therefore, the order of the Election Commission appears to be perfectly legal to ensure just and fair elections. In fact petitioner had approached the High Court at such a crucial juncture when process of re-polling could not have been stopped and in our view it was rightly concluded by the learned Judges that disputes/controversies emanating from the elections could only be resolved by the Election Tribunals and the petitioner was well within his right to have a recourse to the election petition at the appropriate time. In this view of the matter the order impugned does not disclose any illegality or irregularity so as to warrant interference by this Court. Consequently, this petition is dismissed and leave to appeal declined accordingly.