Form and contents

2024 PLD 688 SUPREME-COURT Judicial Precedent

S. 62(9)Election Rules, 2017, R. 51Elections for seat of National Assembly/Provincial AssemblyNomination papersForm and content

Requirement of filing an affidavit along with nomination papers disclosing such criminal cases (if any) as were pending against the candidate six months prior to the filing of the nomination in terms of the order reported as Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan and others v. Habib Akram and others PLD 2018 SC 678 ("Habib Akram order")

Not applicable to General Elections 2024

Such arrangement of filing affidavits brought about by the 'Habib Akram order' was only an interim measure

Looking at the 'Habib Akram order' as a whole and the context in which it came to be made, it applied only to the General Elections of 2018 and, at most, to the 2018 election cycle that those elections engendered

That would include any bye-elections held in that cycle and also elections to the Senate held during that period

But that is all

To conclude otherwise, i.e., that the order extended beyond that cycle, would be incorrect

Firstly, that would give the order a degree of permanence and continuity quite contrary to its stated interim nature

It would be as though the matters in which the order was made had been finally decided and disposed of

That, of course, is not the case

Secondly, such characterization and application of the order would run against the grain of the present electoral framework, where the form and contents of the nomination paper were within the domain of the primary legislative process

'Habib Akram order', being an interim measure, had ceased to be operative, since the 2018 election cycle had come to an end

It had no application for the General Elections of 2024 or for any elections held or to be held in the present election cycle

Inasmuch as candidates have been required to file affidavits in terms thereof or with reference thereto for the said General Elections or any elections thereafter, that cannot entail any legal consequences or penalties at any stage of the relevant electoral process, including any election dispute taken, or to be taken, to an Election Tribunal

This will continue to be so until either the electoral framework relating to nomination papers is altered by primary legislation, or the matters in which the 'Habib Akram order' came to be made are decided finally and conclusively in the same or similar terms, or the said order is expressly extended by the Court

Certainly, absent any such contingencies, the Election Commission cannot require candidates for any election in the present election cycle to file such affidavits.

2013 MLD 1808 FEDERAL-SHARIAT-COURT Judicial Precedent

R. 7(2)Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 203-DShariat petitionForm and contentsChallenging more than one law as being repugnant to Injunctions of Islam in a single Shariat petition

Rule 7(2) of Federal Shariat Court (Procedure) Rules, 1981, specifically provided that whenever a petitioner claimed more than one law or provision thereof to be repugnant to Injunctions of Islam, he should file a separate petition in respect of each law.