The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Thursday nullified the registration of the regional chapters of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by the region’s Election Commission for being in contravention of the law and Constitution of the state.
Subsequently, the ‘show cause’ notices served by these parties on their recently elected councillors for alleged violation of party discipline during elections to the reserved seats and heads of the Local Government (LG) institutions, were also set-aside by the larger bench, comprising Chief Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja, Justice Mian Arif Hussain, Justice Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Justice Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry.
The 20-page judgment, authored by the chief justice, was announced in the open court on four clubbed petitions filed between January and March 2023 by some councillors from Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot.
The bench heard arguments and counter arguments from the parties and their counsel after forming three points at issue which included whether the political parties which had served the impugned show cause notices on the petitioners were duly registered political parties according to the law and whether those were entitled for such an action; what was the status of a member elected on the ticket of a political party which had been registered against the law on the subject; and whether the [AJK] Election Commission had proceeded against the law by issuing the impugned notices to the petitioners?
The bench served notices on the presidents and secretaries general of eight parties - PML-N, PPP, PTI, Muslim Conference, Jammu Kashmir People’s Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam AJK and Jamaat-Islami AJK - to submit their statements of objections apart from obtaining record of these parties from the Election Commission.
The bench pointed out that the prevailing AJK Election Act 2020 had laid down the procedure for registration of a political party and according to Article 4 (4) (7) of the AJK Constitution every State Subject had been granted the right to form or become a member of a party in accordance with the prevalent law.
It further noted that section 128 of the AJK Election Act clearly stipulated the process for formation and registration of a political party under an application to the Election Commission, accompanied by a copy of its constitution and published manifesto, consolidated statement of accounts, a list of at least 1000 members with their signatures or thumb impression and CNIC copies as well the proof of deposit of registration fee.
The bench perused the record of PML-N, PTI and PPP and noted that even though they had failed to fulfil the laid down criteria, including the mandatory intra-party elections among other conditions, they were granted “provisional” registration in the first place and regular registration afterwards.
“There is no bar on establishment of the branches of the Pakistani parties in Azad Kashmir but only a State Subject is eligible to apply for its registration. No Pakistani political party can treat its branch as a ‘brand’ or ‘franchise’ because this runs counter to the basic democratic norms,” the bench held.
It also took strong exception to the Election Commission for disregarding the basic requirements of registration of political parties as well as its responsibility to review from time to time whether a political party was registered in accordance with law or not.
“We wonder as to how the Election Commission registered these parties provisionally and allowed them to contest elections, notwithstanding several legal and constitutional shortcomings. Since the registration itself has been against the law and Constitution, show cause notices served by these parties and any other proceedings in pursuance of the same are also against the law and are therefore declared null and void.”
The bench maintained that since the court was not approached by any person affected by other parties, it did not deem appropriate to pass comments about them.
“However, this should be kept in mind that even if any political party is not a party in these petitions, it can have a legal backing only by adhering to the principles laid down in the judgement and prevailing laws and rules. The Election Commission should initiate proceedings vis-à-vis their registration in the light of the instant judgment,” it declared.
In the closing paragraph, the bench made it clear that the instant judgment would not serve as a legal bar or impediment to the registration of any political party under law and Constitution.
Tariq Naqash
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