ABDUL REHMAN KHAN KANJU vs ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary, Islamabad Ss

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ABDUL REHMAN KHAN KANJU VS ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary, Islamabad Ss. 95(5), 139 & 155---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---General Elections 2024---Recounting of ballot papers on orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan---Returning Officer and Election Commission of Pakistan, powers of---Constitutional petition filed before the High Court against the recounting of ballot papers under section 95(5) of the Elections Act, 2017---Maintainability---High Court's jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution can only be invoked if a petitioner is an 'aggrieved' person---It is not understandable how anyone can be stated to be aggrieved if the ballot papers are recounted---Grievance against the administrative-ministerial act of recounting of ballot papers is also not envisaged in Article 199---If a Returning Officer does not do an honest recount or does not do the recount in accordance with the law, then the affected party has available remedies---Depending upon the particular facts of the case this could be by approaching the Election Commission of Pakistan ('the Commission') or filing an election petition before the Election Tribunal---Thereafter, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court can also be invoked---In present cases the difference in the margin of victory was well within the stipulated percentile/number provided under section 95(5) of the Elections Act, 2017---Nonetheless, the contesting respondents challenged the order of the recount and/or challenged the result of the recount by filing writ petitions in the High Court under Article 199 of the Constitution---High Court overlooked the constitutional preconditions before exercising jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution, which were that the petitioner must be aggrieved and must not have other adequate remedy; on both these counts the writ petitions were not maintainable---Contesting respondents who had invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court could not be considered to be aggrieved by the administrative-ministerial act of recounting---Moreover, they had other adequate remedy---Therefore, the two prerequisites (aggrieved person and absence of adequate remedy) necessary to invoke Article 199 were not met---Election Commission was also not coram non judice nor lacked jurisdiction in ordering the recount---Petitions were converted into appeals and allowed by setting aside the impugned judgments and dismissing the writ petitions filed before the High Court.

ABDUL REHMAN KHAN KANJU vs ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN through Secretary, Islamabad Ss — 2024 SCMR 1902 SUPREME-COURT

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