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Civil Appeal No.188 of 2019 3 . Respondent No.1 is conspicuous from a deliberate misstatement made by him in his nomination papers, declaration of assets and sworn affidavit clearly inferring that he was not an honest and sagacious person. The learned counsel further submits that Respondent on No.1 account had of his acts and omissions, rendered himself liable for the constitutional disqualification as envisaged in Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (‘the Constitution”) as well as provisions of the Election Act, 2017 (“the Act”) including Section 156 thereof. He maintains that wilful concealment by Respondent No.1 having been proved without any lawful justification for the same, there was no burden cast upon the Appellant to establish mala fides in the matter. He points out that the precedent cases relied upon by the Election Tribunal were entirely distinguishable and the Tribunal fell in error in dismissing the election petition. He further maintains that the ratio of cases reported as Muhammad Jamil v. Munawar Khan (PLD 2006 SC 24), Khaleefa Muhammad Munawar Butt v. Hafiz Muhammad Jamil Nasir (2008 SCMR 504), Muhammad Ahmad Chatta v. Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema (2016 SCMR 763), Muzafar Abbas v. Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi (PLD 2017 Lahore 394) and Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi v. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (PLD 2017 SC 692) being squarely applicable to the case of Respondent No.1 should clearly have resulted in his disqualification and ouster from the Provincial Assembly. He finally submits that the judgment of the Election Tribunal suffers from patent errors of law and runs

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Khuhro v. Khan

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether misstatements on the candidate’s election papers are sufficient to declare an election void.

Alleged Acts: The appellant contests the election results on the grounds that the prevailing candidate made false declaration on the candidacy documents. The appellant sought a declaration that the election results were void and that the election be reordered. The appellant argues that the candidate made false declarations my misstating assets of himself and his dependents. However, the respondent states that the representation made on the candidacy documents are from misunderstanding on property documents and the difference of 140 reported acres of land stems from the candidate solely reporting the property in his direct control and ownership. The candidate further stated that there was no ill intent behind the omission because there would be no measurable advantage in the land acreage difference.

Summary: Declaring an election void requires an invalid candidacy, illegal, or corruption actions. The evidentiary burden requires that a false statement be intentional under the circumstances. The court found and the respondent admitted that he did not declare his entire land holdings, as asserted by the appellant. Section 137(4) permits candidates may face legal liability with 120 days from the date of submission if he commits and offense or corrupt practice. The respondent made no effort to fix the mistakes in the asset report. Further, the court determined that the respondent was aware of the land transfer back into his name as early as 2014.

Conclusion: The court determined that the respondent concealed his assets and did so not by mistake or clerical error. Therefore, the election of the respondent was annulled and the Election Commission order to hold a new election for the position in the Provincial Assembly.

Legal Issue(s)

Candidate Registration
Electoral Integrity

Applicable Law(s): Pakistan Constitution Article 62(1)(f)

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: Pakistan

Language of Decision

English

Court: Supreme Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Aug 1, 2019

Geolocation

Latitude: 33.84616314

Longitude: 73.04529661

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Khuhro v. Khan.pdf
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Khuhro v. Khan

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