C.P.No.D-381 of 2016

1. For Katcha Peshi

2. For hearing of CMA-993/2016

04.02.2016

Mr. Shabir Ali Bozdar assisted by Mr. Muhammad Suleman Kalhoro Advocate for petitioner.

Mian Mumtaz Rabbani, Deputy Attorney General.

Mr. Noor Hassan Malik, Assistant Advocate General a/w Returning Officer and Election Officer.

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Through instant petition, the petitioner has impugned the order passed by the Returning Officer as well as by the Appellate Authority Election in Election Petition No.01/2016 dated 28.01.2015 whereby the nomination of the petitioner on Reserve Seat (Labourer), District Council, Naushahro Feroze, has been rejected on the ground that the petitioner is not qualified to be elected as Member of the Union Council, therefore, by invoking section 35 (1) (c) of Sindh Local Government Act 2013 read with Rule 51 (3) (a) of the Sindh Local Council (Election) Rules, 2015 nomination of the petitioner was rejected.

Notices were issued, pursuant to which, respondents Nos.3 and 4 have shown appearance. Returning Officer, respondent No4 has filed parawise comments, which are taken on record and copy supplied to learned counsel for the petitioner.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that such qualifications, as referred to hereinabove, are not relevant for the purposes of contesting elections on Reserved Seats (Labourer), whereas, any Member of any Union Council in a District can vote for any candidate on Reserved Seat irrespective of the fact that the candidate may not belong to such Union Council. Learned counsel for petitioner was directed to refer to any provision either in Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 the Sindh Local Council (Election) Rules, 2015, however, could not refer any provision except mentioning provision of Rule 50 of the Sindh Local Council (Election) Rules, 2015, which according to learned counsel for petitioner, does not provide any such restrictions.

We have heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned AAG and DAG and perused the record. It will be advantageous to reproduce relevant finding of the Appellate Authority Election in the instant case, which reads as follows:

“The careful perusal of the impugned order passed by the Returning Officer shows that the Nomination Paper has been rejected by him on the ground that the candidate is not eligible as per section 35 (1) (c) of Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 as candidate is not enrolled voter of any union council of the District.

Section 35 (1) (c) of Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 reads as under:

“He is enrolled as a voter in the electoral Rolls             of a council or ward.”

According to learned counsel for the appellant, the said section is not applicable to the elections of District Council which is in my opinion not correct view as according to Rule 51 (3) (a) of the Sindh Local Government Council (Election) Rules, 2015, the eligibility of the candidate is to be seen by the Returning Officer during scrutiny process. The perusal of the electoral Roll of the candidate it appears that the candidate is enrolled voter of Town Committee, Darya Khan Mari, her vote is at S. No.171 and she is herself not registered voter of the union council and that she is herself not eligible to contest the election of the union council, therefore, the section 35 (1) (c) of the Sindh Local Council (Election) Rules, 2015 comes in her way which is with regard to the eligibility of the contesting candidate for the reserved seat of the District Council.

Therefore, in these circumstances, the impugned order is maintained and the appeal is hereby rejected accordingly.”

From perusal of Section 35 (1) (c) of Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, it appears that order passed by the Appellate Authority Election does not suffer from any illegality or irregularity and does not require any interference by this Court. Accordingly, instant petition is hereby dismissed.

JUDGE

JUDGE

N.M.