Through Writ Petition No. 1867/21 filed under Article 44 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution, 1974, following relief is solicited by the petitioners: "It is, therefore, prayed on behalf of the petitioners that this Hon'ble Court may very graciously be pleased to issue high prerogative writ on the following grounds:- i. Set-aside the illegal State Subject and entry in voter list of private Respondent No. 5 in the light of land record and declaring the same as illegal, unlawful, unjust against the Act, 2021 passed by the Legislative Assembly , along with order dated 07.05.2021 of regional Election Commission Lahore may kindly be set-aside; ii. Directing the respondents to resolve the matter as soon as possible because the General Election of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly is going to held and Election schedule is going to be announced within week; iii. It is further prayed that the certificat es of Mahajir/State Subjects of the Respondents No. 7 and his family member may please be ordered to be declared as illegal, unlawful, void ab-initio, forge, fake, fabricated and bogus and further please be declared as were procured through fraud and collusion of Respondent No. 7 and his accomplices in the supreme interest of justice; iv. Any other relief which is just and proper in the estimation of this Hon'ble Court may also be granted to the petitioners in the interest of justice."
2. Following relief is prayed for by the petitioner in W rit Petition No. 2377/21: "It is, therefore, very humbly prayed that by accepting the writ petition the impug ned judgment of Chief Election Commissioner dated 30.06.2021 and judgment of Returning Officer Constituency No. LA-34 Jammu-I may kindly be set- aside. It is further prayed that by accepting the petitioner's application the nomination papers filed by the private Respondent No. 4 may very kindly be restrained from contesting Election , 2021. Any other relief which is just and proper in the estimation of this Hon'ble Court may also be granted to the petitioners in the interest of justice."
3. Brief history of Writ Petitions No. 1867/21 and 2377/21 is that the petitioners are 1st Class State Subjects of Azad Jammu and Kashmir , refugees and are settled at Lahore Pakistan. It is contended that Respondent No. 7 is permanent resident of Sudhnoti Azad Jammu and Kashmir . It is further submitted that Act passed by the Legislative Assembly Azad Jammu and Kashmir Amendment Act, 2021 deals with the definition of the refugees. According to the Act, the private respondent is no more eligible for contesting the elections as refugees settled in Pakistan. It is submitted that the petitioners submitted their objections on voter list before Election Commission. The Election Commission/Chief Election Commissioner dismissed the appeal/ application dated 07.05.2021 and 30.06.2021 respectively , which are liable to be set-aside. The order of Returning Officer Constituency LA-34 Jammu-I dated 22.06.2021 has also been challenged for having been issued without lawful authority . It is further submitted that the petitioners filed an application against Respondent No. 7 before Respondents No. 1 to 5 for deletion of name of Respondent No. 7 and his family members from the voter list published by the Registration Officer Lahore but the needful has not been done, hence, the instant writ petitions.
4. Through Writ Petition No. 2257/2021 filed under Article 44 of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution, 1974 the petitioners sought following relief: "It is therefore very humbly prayed that by accepting the instant writ petition the impugned state subject and domicile certificates of the non-petitioner and state subject and domicile certificate of father of the non-petitioner may very kindly be declared void and illegal and may be set-aside. The name of the private non-petitioner in the constituency LA-44 Valley 5 in the voter list kindly be set aside. Official non-petitioners may kindly be directed not to accept the nomination paper of private non-petitioner as candidate of Member Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and also not allow the private non-petitioners to file the nomination paper as candidate Member Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly for the upcoming elections of Azad Jammu and Kashmir 2021 and private non- petitioner may kindly be declared un-eligible to contest election against the reserved seat of refugees settled in Pakistan."
5. In another connected Writ Petition No. 2378/2021, the petitioners, herein, challenged the impugned orders dated 09.06.2021 and 28.06.2021 passed by Election Commission of AJ&K. It is prayed that the voter list to the extent of private non-petitioner No. 12 may be set-aside and private non-petitioner may be declared ineligible and disqualify for contesting election in the constituency LA-44 V alley-V as refugees settled in Pakistan.
6. Through Writ Petition No. 2379/21 filed under Article 44 of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution, 1974 the petitioner sought following relief: "It is therefore, respectfully submitted that by declaring without lawful authority the order of Returning Officer dated 22.06.2021 and the order of the Election Commission of Azad Jammu and Kashmir dated 30.06.2021 passed by its Members, the nomination papers submitted by Respondent No. 4 may kindly be rejected by declaring Respondent No. 4 to be disqualified candidate in view of Section 31(2)(XVIII) and (XXII) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Act, 2020; the official respondents may kindly be directed to strike off the name of the Respondent No. 4 from validly nominated candidate for the Election of Legislative Assembly of Azad Jamm u and Kashmir going to be held on 25th July 2021. The Respondent No. 4 may kindly be restrained from taking part as candidate into the Election going to be held on 25.07.2021."
7. Brief facts forming background of the aforesaid writ petition are that the petitioner and Respondent No. 4 submitted their nomination papers for contesting Election 2021 from LA-16 Bagh-III of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly . It is averred that in view of Section 31 (XVIII) and (XXII ) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Act, 2020, the Respondent No. 4 being a "morally corrupt" person as well as having outstanding government dues amounting to Rs. 12,18,339/- and was disqualified to contest the election. It is claimed that petitioner submitted objections to the nomination of Respondent No. 4 along with report of Auditor and Order of the Director General Audit, before Returning Officer on 22.06.2021. It is contended that Returning Officer vide order dated 22.06.2021 overruled the objections submitted by the petitioner and the petitioner submitted appeal against the order of the Returning Office before AJ&K Election Commission, which was dismissed vide impugned order dated 30.06.2021.
8. The writ petitions have been resisted by the respondents by filing written statement, wherein the claim of the petitioners has been negated and prayed for dismissal of the instant writ petitions.
9. The learned counsel for the parties reiterated the facts and grounds as taken in the writ petitions as well as written statement, therefore, there is no need to reproduce the same.
10. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record carefully .
11. In all the writ petitions, the eligibility of rival candidates has been challenged on different grounds. The following common question is involved in all the above titled writ petitions. Hence, all the writ petitions are clubbed and the same are hereby decided through this single judgment: Whether the writ petitions should be decided on merit at this stage or the points raised in the writ petitions should be left open for Election T ribunal?
12. Without going into the merits of the case and validity of the objections raised by the learned counsel for the petitioners before concerned Returning Officers, it is observed that according to Chapter IX of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Act, 2020, the procedure of elections dispute is provided.
13. The word "election" has both "narrow" and "wide", meanings. In the narrow sense, it amounts to the selection of the candidates and in wider sense, it connotes the entire election process starting from issuance of election schedule to the notification of elected candidates and in election disputes it should be used in wider sense.
14. As mentioned-above that election process starts from notification calling the elections and completes on declaration of result and every matter arising during this period regarding elections amounts to election disputes and law has provided a remedy to resolv e such disputes by filing election petitions before competent forum. Any verdict of this Court while exercising writ jurisdiction will af fect the rights of the parties as well as of public at large.
15. Democracy is the basic feature of our Constitution and conducting of free and fair elections is absolutely necessary for democracy . "Sir W inston Churchil " described the elections in the following words: "At the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy is a little man, walking into little booth, with a little pencil making a little cross on a little bit of paper ."
16. This saying reveals the importance of a common man in elections and democracy . It is further observed that in General Elections the whole community is involved and silently present in such like cases and want to elect their representatives. Hence, I am of the view that once electoral process has been started, it should not be interfered with at any intermediary stage by the Courts.
17. As the Election schedule has been announced and the election process has already been completed by the AJ&K Election election symbols etc. The General Elections are going to be held after Commission including scrutiny of nomination papers and allotment of some days, hence, at this time, any verdict of this Court will affect the whole election process, therefore, the points raised in the writ petitions are left open for the Election Tribunal. If private respondent become returned candidates, the other party may approach to the aforesaid Tribunal in accordance with law on the points raised in the writ petitions.
In the light of what has been stated above, the instant writ petitioners are hereby disposed of.