2016 PLP 293 (CLC)

HAIDER ALI KHAN, J.

The petitioner seeks the constitutional remedy against the rejection of nomination form praying that:- "It is, therefore, humbly prayed that on acceptance of this writ petition the impugned orders dated 25.4.2015 and 29.4.2015 passed by the respondents, may kindly be set aside and the petitioner may kindly be allowed to contest the upcoming Local Government Election, 2015 as candidate of General Council of Village Council "Sahra" Swat."

2. Grievance of the petitioner is that he submitted his nomination papers for the seat of General Councilor which were rejected by the Returning Officer on 25.4.2015 on the ground that his seconder namely Azam Khan was a government servant. The petitioner preferred appeal against rejection of his nomination papers before the appellate authority/Additional Sessions Judge-II, Swat who also dismissed the appeal vide order dated 29.4.2015 and maintained order of the Returning Officer. The relevant portion of the impugned order is reproduced herein below: "Rejected with the remarks that his Seconder Mr. Azam Khan s/o Khewagar Khan is a Govt. employee (C-IV) at GGPS Durmshai, Sakhra Swat."

3. Arguments heard and record perused.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner referred to Rule 14 of Chapter-IV of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules, 2014, relevant portion whereof is reproduced herein below for convenience:- "13

14. Nomination for elections.

(1) Any elector of a Village Council or Neighborhood Council or electoral ward for general seat in Tehsil Councils, Town Councils and district Councils may propose or second the name of any duly qualified person to be a candidate for becoming a member for the Local council or as the case may be" (2) . (3)

5. Mr. Inayat-ur-Rehman, Election Officer Dir Lower and Muhammad Jameel, Regional Election Commissioner, who are present before the Court, frankly conceded that although there is no express bar in the relevant election law as well as rules but as a matter of propriety the government officials should not become proposer or seconder of a candidate.

6. In view of the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner and the assistance provided by the respondents, it is held that there is no express bar for the government officials/ officers to propose or second a candidate for the local government elections in case he / they are registered voters in a village council or neighborhood council or electoral ward. The reliance placed on section 100 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 by the appellate Authority is altogether on different footing and the proposing or seconding a candidate for local council or ward does not come within the preview of political activities.

7. In view of the above, we accept this writ petition, set aside the impugned orders and direct the respondents to accept the nomination form of the petitioner for the given seat. SL/257/P Petition accepted.