ALI ASJAD MALHI vs Ms — 2021 SCMR 726 SUPREME-COURT

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

ALI ASJAD MALHI VS Ms. Syeda NOSHEEN IFTIKHAR S. 9---Power of the Election Commission to declare a poll void---Scope---Death of two persons at a polling station---Forty polling stations affected by aerial firing---Presiding Officers of twenty polling stations going missing and failing to hand over the results to the Returning Officer in time---Question as to what standard of proof, quantum of evidence, and scale and severity of violations of law (during the election) would warrant a re-poll in the entire constituency---Held, that S. 9 of the Elections Act, 2017 operated in a very limited span of sixty days following the publication of the result of an election---Jurisdiction of Election Commission under S. 9 partook of executive and quasi-judicial powers that may be exercised promptly to cure any irregularity in the conduct of an election---Benchmarks laid down by the law for the Election Tribunal to annul an election and order a re-poll may not strictly apply to the Election Commission under the S. 9 without suitable modification---In such circumstances the Supreme Court observed that it would like to examine whether the allegedly excessive action of the Election Commission, in the present case, namely declaring election in the whole constituency as null and void was within its jurisdictional parameters; that the parties before the Court had not addressed the questions as to what transgressions on the polling day could constitute grave illegalities or violations calling for a fresh rather than a partial re-poll, and in what situations would non-pervasiveness of the illegalities or violations committed on polling day still attract the same result; that to assist the Court in answering said questions the Election Commission could present a map of the constituency labelling the polling stations where specified wrongs were committed along with a chart explaining the said labels---Case was adjourned.

ALI ASJAD MALHI vs Ms — 2021 SCMR 726 SUPREME-COURT

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2021 SCMR