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. 8, 95(5) &139---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 218(3)---General Elections 2024---Recounting of ballot papers on orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan---Legality---Returning Officer and Election Commission of Pakistan, powers of---Whether consolidation of results had been completed before the recounting of ballots---Held, that in all the present petitions/cases, admittedly, the process of conducting the election was completed as the final results were consolidated and the names of the returned candidates were published in the official gazette, therefore, any dispute relating to the election, thereafter, including recount of votes under Section 95(5) of the Elections Act, 2017 ('the Elections Act') could not have been referred or taken cognizance by the Commission under the purported exercise under Article 218(3) of the Constitution read with Section 8 of the Elections Act and, instead, it could have been agitated by filing election petition(s) under Section 139 of the Elections Act before the Election Tribunal already constituted in terms of Section 140 of the Elections Act---After consolidation of the results in terms of Section 95 and on receipt of the final consolidation results from the Returning Officer, and the declaration of results by the Commission in terms of Section 98 of the Elections Act i.e. after completion of the election process, any dispute relating to elections could not have been agitated before or taken cognizance of by the Election Commission which was denuded of such authority and had became functus officio---Similarly, provisions of Section 95(6) of the Elections Act reflect that the Election Commission, for reasons to be recorded, can direct the Returning Officer to recount the ballot paper of one or more polling stations, however, before conclusion of consolidation proceedings and not thereafter, as had been done in the present cases--- Therefore, orders passed by the Election Commission for recount of polls after completion of election process were coram non judice and without jurisdiction, whereas, an alternate remedy was available to the petitioners for filing election petition before the Election Tribunal duly constituted for such purpose under the law---Impugned judgments/orders passed by the High Court did not suffer from any factual error or legal infirmity, therefore, did not require any interference by the Supreme Court---Accordingly petitions were dismissed and leave to appeal was refused.

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

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