Karachi mayoral election results are contingent on the decision of the JI petition: SHC
The Sindh High Court (SHC) ruled on Thursday that Karachi mayoral election results are contingent on the decision of the JI petition.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed issued an order on Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman’s petition seeking a stay order on the election for the mayor and deputy mayor posts, saying that the operation of the LG Act 2023 and its amendments could not be suspended as an interim measure
The court denied the petitioner’s request for interim relief but said the final outcome of the petition would determine the validity of the election results.
The petitioner had requested the court to suspend the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification for the election for the mayor and deputy mayor posts, on the grounds that the notification was ultra vires the 1973 Constitution, without lawful authority, and of no legal effect. He had also sought to restrain the ECP and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation from taking any action pursuant to Section 18-B of the Amendment Act.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that Section 18 of the Act made membership of the corporation/council a sine qua non for eligibility to be elected to the post of chairman or mayor. He said that prior to the 2023 Act, it had been necessary for a person to go through a direct electoral process to become eligible to contest the election for either of those posts. However, through the insertion of Section 18-B in the 2023 Act, the provincial government had effectively dispensed with this requirement, allowing any person to be elected.
The petitioner argued that this offended the fundamental precept of representative democracy at the LG level, premised on the vesting of executive authority with persons who are elected representatives of the people, as enshrined in Article 140-A of the constitution.
The Sindh advocate general objected to the petitioner’s locus standi and the maintainability of the petition. He said that the petitioner belongs to a political party whose elected representatives in the provincial assembly had voted in favor of the 2023 Act, which had been passed unanimously. He also pointed out that the petition had been held back until just a week before the election, suggesting that it was a tactical move rather than a genuine concern about the legality of the election.
The advocate general argued that it was within the legislative competence of the PA to promulgate the 2023 Act and that its provisions did not offend any constitutional provision. He said that the operation of the Act, as amended, could not be suspended pending the final determination of the question of constitutionality, and the same ought to be given effect until then.
Rehman, who was elected North Nazimabad UC-8 chairman, said in his petition that the impugned amendment was promulgated and deemed to have taken force on December 31, 2021, whereby a past and closed electoral process had been infringed upon by making an allowance for unelected persons to be elected to the posts of chairman and mayor.
Wahab was elected as the mayor on Thursday, securing 173 votes. He beat JI’s Rehman, who bagged 160 votes.
The court’s decision means that the validity of the election results will now depend on the outcome of the petition. If the court finds that the election was held in violation of the constitution, then the results will be void and a new election will need to be held.