The Ground of being a Proclaimed Offender was not Considered Sufficient for Disqualification --- Supreme Court of Pakistan

The petitioner sought leave to appeal [Civil Petition No.159 of 2024] against the rejection of their nomination paper for a seat in the National Assembly. The rejection was based on the grounds that the petitioner was a proclaimed offender in a criminal case. However, the petitioner argued that there is no specific provision in the Constitution or the Elections Act 2017 that disqualifies a proclaimed offender from contesting elections.

The Supreme Court observed that a similar case had been decided differently by the same bench of the High Court, where the ground of being a proclaimed offender was not considered sufficient for disqualification. The Supreme Court also observed that Article 62(1)(d), (e), (f), and (g) of the Constitution, is not to be self-executory and to serve as guidelines for the voters in exercising their right to vote, hence even being a proclaimed offender does not attract the disqualification under the said provisions.

Since there was no legal provision disqualifying a proclaimed offender from contesting elections, and since the petitioner had obtained protective bail and surrendered to the court, they could not be considered a proclaimed offender for the purposes of disqualification. Therefore, the court allowed the appeal, set aside the order of the High Court rejecting the nomination paper, and accepted the petitioner's nomination for the seat in the National Assembly. The Election Commission of Pakistan was directed to ensure all necessary steps for the petitioner to contest the election on the scheduled date.

Powered by Froala Editor