LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday annulled the parliament-prepared nomination papers, ruling that it was the domain of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to make changes in nomination papers in line with the Constitution and Elections Act.
Announcing the reserved verdict on constitutional petitions challenging the present format of nomination papers, Justice Ayesha A Malik ruled that declaration "does not fulfill the mandatory requirements of sections 132 and 133 of the Elections Act."
The court further directed the Election Commission to include all mandatory information and declarations in Form A and Form B (nomination papers) for the upcoming general elections 2018, which was previously available in the 2013 elections, but the recently expired parliament deleted them.
The judge, after annulling the nomination papers prepared by the parliament, ordered the ECP to prepare new nomination papers. The court ordered the ECP to again add the requirements of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution in the nomination papers.
"The ECP is directed to ensure that all mandatory information and declarations are included," the court said, adding that the commission should fulfill its constitutional duties to hold just and fair elections.
The judge further ruled, "The term ‘dependent children’ used in the Election Act 2017, specifically in sections 60, 110 and 137 and in Form A and Form B is held to be read down to be construed and interpreted in terms of the constitutional requirement provided for in Article 63(1)(n) and (o) of the Constitution."
It was argued that voters should know information of the candidates regarding dual nationality, income tax paid, agriculture tax paid, loan default, government due defaults, criminal record and details of assets and liabilities.
Earlier, the counsel of the petitioner, while presenting his arguments, had said that the members of the parliament had no right to make changes in the nomination papers as this was the responsibility of the ECP. The ECP representative had also told the court that the new nomination papers can be prepared in seven days.
Justice Malik ruled that the new forms did not provide for mandatory information and declarations as required by the Constitution and the law. The judge dismissed an argument against the competency of the parliament to draft the impugned forms as they became part of the Act, however, she observed that the ECP was empowered to add or improve Form A and Form B of the Act so as to fulfill its constitutional mandate of ensuring transparent elections.
Habib Akram and others had filed the petitions challenging the vires of Form A and Form B appended with the Election Act, 2017 being the nomination form for participation in the election to an assembly and the statement of assets and liabilities under the Act on the ground that the impugned forms were drafted by parliament that is not competent to enact the same as the competent authority is the ECP.
The petitioners' counsel, Saad Rasool, argued that the nomination forms must include information and details of income tax paid, citizenship of any other country, criminal record and the assets and liabilities of all dependents of the candidate.
They further said the impugned forms failed to provide for mandatory declarations as provided in Article 63 of the Constitution with specific reference to Article 63(i)(n) and 63(i)(o) of the Constitution wherein the declaration included the disclosure of the liabilities of the candidate, his spouse and his dependents.
The ECP Director Legal, Umar Hayat, told the court that historically the commission had always made the nomination forms and in terms of the Supreme Court's judgments passed in 2012 and 2013.
However, he said, without adhering to the mandate of the law, the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms opted to draft the impugned forms. Representing the Federation, Deputy Attorney General Zikria Sheikh argued that no malafide intention could be attributed to the legislature. He said the drafting of the forms was a consultative process, with all the political parties over the period of three years and ultimately with everyone's consensus, Forms A and B were drafted as the nomination forms for the elections and statement of assets and liability.
