IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(APPELLATE JURISDICTION) 
 
 
PRESENT: 
MR. JUSTICE YAHYA AFRIDI 
MR. JUSTICE SAYYED MAZAHAR ALI AKBAR NAQVI 
MR. JUSTICE SYED HASAN AZHAR RIZVI 
 
CIVIL PETITION NO. 173-Q OF 2023 
(On appeal against the judgment dated 12.05.2023 
passed by the High Court of Balochistan, Quetta in 
C.P. No. 1916/2022) 
 
Abdul Nafey  
 
 
 
 
 
… Petitioner 
Versus 
Muhammad Rafique and others  
 
 
… Respondents 
 
For the Petitioner: 
Mr. Kamran Murtaza, Sr. ASC 
 
 
For the Respondent (1): 
Mr. Muhammad Rafique, in person 
(Via video link from Quetta) 
 
 
For the Respondent (2): 
Mr. 
Ayaz 
Khan 
Swati, 
Addl. 
A.G. 
Balochistan 
 
 
For Respondents (3-5): 
Mr. Muhammad Arshad, D.G. (Law), ECP 
Mr. Falak Sher, Legal Consultant, ECP 
 
 
Date of Hearing: 
09.08.2023 
 
JUDGMENT 
SAYYED MAZAHAR ALI AKBAR NAQVI, J.- Through this petition under Article 
185(3) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioner 
has assailed the judgment dated 12.05.2023 passed by the learned High Court 
of Balochistan, Quetta whereby the Constitutional Petition filed by the 
petitioner 
was 
dismissed 
and 
the 
order 
of 
the 
learned 
Election 
Tribunal/Appellate Authority, District Chaman was upheld.  
2. 
 
Briefly stated the facts of the case are that to contest the Local 
Bodies Elections as a Ward Member, the petitioner submitted his nomination 
papers from Ward No. 15, Municipal Corporation, Chaman, which were 
accepted by the Returning Officer vide order dated 25.04.2022. The respondent 
No. 1, who was also contesting elections from the same constituency, 
challenged the acceptance of nomination papers of the petitioner on the 
CIVIL PETITION NO. 173-Q OF 2023 
-: 2 :-
ground that the petitioner’s age is less than 21 years and as per Section 24(b) of 
the Balochistan Local Government Act, 2010, he is not qualified to contest the 
election but the same was not entertained. The respondent No. 1 filed an 
appeal 
before 
the 
District 
& 
Sessions 
Judge, 
Chaman/Election 
Tribunal/Appellate Authority but the same was dismissed vide order dated 
30.04.2022. The main ground urged by the petitioner before the Appellate 
Authority was that although according to CNIC he is underage to contest the 
elections as his date of birth has been mentioned as 01.01.2002 but according 
to his school record his date of birth is 05.02.2000, therefore, he was above 21 
years of age at the time of filing of the nomination papers. Eventually, the 
elections were held on 29.05.2022 wherein the petitioner was declared to be 
the returned candidate and a notification to this extent was issued on 
22.06.2022. In the meantime, the respondent filed Constitutional Petition No. 
925/2022 before the learned High Court against the order of Appellate 
Authority but the learned High Court vide order dated 16.06.2022 directed him 
to again approach the Appellate Authority for redressal of his grievances. 
Thereafter, the respondent No. 1 again approached the District & Sessions 
Judge/Election Tribunal Chaman, who accepted the Election Petition and set 
aside the notification dated 22.06.2022 whereby the petitioner was declared as 
returned candidate. The petitioner then filed Constitution Petition No. 
1916/2022 before the learned High Court of Balochistan, Quetta but the same 
has been dismissed vide impugned order. Hence, this petition seeking leave to 
appeal.   
3. 
 
At the very outset, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted 
that earlier the CNIC on which the respondent was relying has been corrected 
by NADRA according to the school record of the petitioner and this correction 
had already been made while the matter was pending before the learned High 
Court but the learned High Court did not take into consideration this aspect of 
the matter.  
4. 
 
On the other hand, learned Additional Advocate General 
Balochistan, the respondent No. 1 who appeared in person and the Law Officers 
of the Election Commission of Pakistan have defended the impugned judgment.  
CIVIL PETITION NO. 173-Q OF 2023 
-: 3 :-
5. 
 
We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have 
perused the available record with their able assistance.  
6. 
 
There is no denial to this fact that on the last date of filing of the 
nomination papers i.e. 21.04.2022, the date of birth of the petitioner according 
to his CNIC was 01.01.2002 meaning thereby that he was about 20 years of age. 
In this view of the matter, the learned High Court has rightly declined to provide 
relief to the petitioner by placing reliance on Section 24(1)(b) of the Balochistan 
Local Government Act, 2010. For the ease of reference, the relevant provision is 
reproduced as under:- 
“24. Qualifications for candidates and elected members.(1) A person shall 
qualify to be elected or to hold an elective office or membership of a local 
council, if he-  
(b) 
is not less than twenty one years of age on the last day fixed for filing 
the nomination form”  
 
7. 
 
So far as the argument of learned counsel for the petitioner that 
according to school record of the petitioner, his date of birth was 05.02.2000 
and he was above 21 years of age is concerned, the same is of no help to the 
petitioner because nowhere in the Balochistan Local Government (Election) 
Rules, 2013, it is mentioned that the date of birth of a candidate will be 
considered as per his school record. On the contrary, a bare reading of Section 
13 of the said Rules shows that any person whether he is a candidate, a 
proposer or a seconder must have Computerized National Identity Card to meet 
the requirements mentioned in the Act & Rules, which means that the 
credentials of a person on the CNIC would be given preference. It would be 
advantageous to reproduce the relevant portion of the said Rules, which reads 
as under:-  
“13. Nomination for election.--- 
(1) 
……………… 
(2) 
Any voter of a ward who is in possession of Computerized National 
Identity Card (CNIC) may propose or second the name of any duly qualified 
person who is also in possession of Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) 
to be a candidate from that ward.” 
 
8. 
 
It is settled law that when meaning of a statute is clear and plain 
language of statute requires no other interpretation then intention of 
Legislature conveyed through such language has to be given full effect. Plain 
CIVIL PETITION NO. 173-Q OF 2023 
-: 4 :-
words must be expounded in their natural and ordinary sense. Intention of the 
Legislature is primarily to be gathered from language used and attention has to 
be paid to what has been said and not to that what has not been said. Reliance 
is placed on Government of KPK Vs. Abdul Manan (2021 SCMR 1871) and JS 
Bank Limited Vs. Province of Punjab through Secretary Food, Lahore (2021 
SCMR 1617). Learned counsel for the petitioner put much stress on the point 
that the correction in the CNIC had already been made while the matter was 
pending before the learned High Court. However, on our specific query, he 
admitted that he sought correction in the NADRA record after the election 
schedule had been announced. In this eventuality, a right had accrued in favour 
of the contesting candidates, which cannot be taken away without any cogent 
reason. Learned counsel could not convince us as to when on the date of filing 
of nomination papers the petitioner was not qualified, how can the defect be 
cured later on. Even otherwise, while seeking such an alteration/correction in 
the date of birth, a declaration is sine qua non which can only be issued by the 
Civil Court of competent jurisdiction on the basis of evidence produced during 
the proceedings regarding the authenticity of the subject matter. Reliance is 
placed on Muhammad Khalid Mandokhail Vs. Government of Balochistan (2021 
SCMR 595) and Shahid Ahmed Vs. OGDCL (2015 PLC (CS) 267).  
9. 
 
For what has been discussed above, this petition having no merit 
is accordingly dismissed and leave to appeal is refused. The above are the 
detailed reasons of our short order of even date.   
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
Islamabad, the 
9th of August, 2023 
Approved For Reporting 
Khurram 
