ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) noted unequivocally Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022, acknowledges the right of overseas Pakistani to vote in the elections.
A single bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah, on Monday, heard the petitions of Dawood Ghazanavi and dual national Atif Iqbal Khan, and dismissed them in limine saying, “The instant petition is meritless as no case is made out for striking down the amended section 94(1) of the Act of 2017.”
Justice Minallah said the Court expected that the Election Commission will fulfil its constitutional as well as statutory obligations, so as to complete the process at the earliest in order to enable the overseas Pakistanis to exercise their right to vote in the elections.
He also noted that the Supreme court in the case, “Dr Farhat Javed Siddique and 15 others v Government of Pakistan and others” [PLD 2018 SC 788] has explicitly referred to ascertainment of “technical efficacy, secrecy, security and above all the financial feasibility”.
“All these factors are to be taken into consideration by the Election Commission in order to enable the overseas Pakistanis to exercise their acknowledged right to vote,” he added.
The petitioners had assailed the vires of section 94 inserted in the Elections Act, 2017 through the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2022.
During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners drew the Court attention towards the Supreme Court’s judgment in case related to Ch Nasir Iqbal and others v Federation [PLD 2014 SC 72]. He also relied upon the SC’s judgment on “Dr Farhat Javed Siddique and 15 others vs the federation”.
The counsel contended that the repealed provision was amended in order to give effect to the law enunciated by the Supreme Court. He further contended that it is not enough to merely acknowledge the right of overseas Pakistanis to vote in the elections held in Pakistan.
The IHC bench noted that the Supreme Court has unequivocally held that the overseas Pakistanis have been conferred the right to vote as per the interpretation of Article 17 of the Constitution.
It added, “The right to vote has been acknowledged through the amended section 94 of the Act of 2017.” He said that both the judgments have declared that overseas Pakistanis are entitled to exercise the right of vote, has directed that pilot projects be undertaken so as to ascertain the “technical efficacy, secrecy, security and financial feasibility” of such voting. However, the direction was given to the Election Commission of Pakistan and the latter was required to submit its report to the Government, which was directed to lay it before both the Houses of Parliament within the time specified by the apex Court.”
“The repealed provision, as was inserted in section 94 of the Act of 2017 through the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2021, manifests that assistance of the National Database and Registration Authority or any other authority or agency was to be sought to enable overseas Pakistanis to vote in the prescribed manner subject to secrecy and security,” said the IHC chief justice.
He continued that the said insertion appears to have been made pursuant to the judgment of the august Supreme Court. He added that however, the provision as inserted through the Elections (Amendment) Act, 2022, reproduced above, also appears to be in consonance with the judgments of the august Supreme Court except that assistance by the National Database and Registration Authority has been omitted. Nonetheless, this omission does not prevent the Election Commission of Pakistan from seeking assistance of the Authority nor any other authority or agency, maintained Justice Minallah.
The Court said that it is satisfied that no case is made out to strike down the amended section 94 of the Act of 2017 and dismissed the petition.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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