SHC adjourns pleas regarding mayoral polls on counsel’s plea

Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of identical petitions regarding the election of the Karachi mayor on the request of the counsel, who argued that after the passing of the 26th constitutional amendment, such matters can only be heard by a constitutional bench of the high court.

During the hearing of the petitions challenging the mayor’s election and the amendments to the local government law concerning the mayor’s eligibility to contest the polls, the counsel for one petitioner, M Tariq Mansoor, said that following the promulgation of the 26th amendment, the matter should be referred to a constitutional bench.

An SHC division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui said that until a resolution is passed by the provincial assembly, the roster assigned to different benches of the high court would continue to operate, and at this point, there is no impediment for this bench to hear and conclude the remaining arguments of the counsel.

The court noted that as a matter of indulgence, the cases are adjourned to November 1, and interim orders would remain in effect until the next hearing.

The SHC had previously ruled that the result of the city’s mayoral election would be subject to the outcome of the petitions challenging the amendments to the LG law, which allow unelected individuals to contest elections for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor.

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s candidate for mayor, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, had filed a petition with the SHC against the amendments to the LG law that permit unelected individuals to contest the mayoral elections.

His counsel pointed out that Section 18 of the law made membership of the corporation or council an essential condition for the eligibility of a person seeking to be elected to the post of chairman or mayor.

He said that prior to the 2023 law, it had been necessary for a person to undergo a direct electoral process to become eligible to contest the election for either of those posts. He also argued that the insertion of Section 18-B in the 2023 law effectively removed this requirement, allowing any person to be elected.

He contended that Section 3 of the 2023 law thus violated the fundamental principle of representative democracy at LG level, which is based on the vesting of executive authority in elected representatives of the people, as enshrined in Article 140-A of the constitution.

However, the Sindh advocate general raised objections regarding the petitioner’s locus standi (right to bring legal action) and the maintainability of the petition. He argued that the petitioner belongs to a political party whose elected representatives in the PA had voted in favour of the 2023 law, which, according to him, had been passed unanimously. He pointed out that the 2023 law was passed by the PA on May 11 and had received the governor’s assent the same day; it was subsequently published in the Sindh Government Gazette on May 12.