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Haji Muhammad Hassan Sherani V. Sardar Babar Khan and 13 others,

CLC 2019 670 · Balochistan High Court

This case involved a losing candidate, Haji Muhammad Hassan Sherani, challenging the election of Sardar Babar Khan, who had won a Provincial Assembly seat (PB-1 Musakhail-cum-Sherani) by a narrow margin of 73 votes. The petitioner alleged that his polling agents were barred from several polling stations, allowing rigging and impersonation of voters, that counting was delayed and manipulated with help from security officials, and that around 3300 civil servants were wrongly denied postal ballot papers by the Returning Officer.

The Election Tribunal of the Balochistan High Court dismissed the petition. It held that allegations of corrupt or illegal election practices must be proved to the same strict standard as a criminal charge, and any doubt must benefit the winning candidate. The petitioner's evidence was found weak and vague—witnesses did not name specific wrongdoers, there was no proof that voters were stopped or bogus votes cast, and the affidavits submitted lacked dates, raising suspicion they were fabricated. On the postal ballot issue, the court found that civil servants themselves were required to apply directly to the Returning Officer, and no proof existed that applications were properly submitted; instead, they were routed through one individual. Since the winning candidate could not be shown to have committed or authorized any wrongdoing, his election could not be invalidated.

The case highlights the high evidentiary bar required to overturn election results in Pakistan and reinforces that vague or unsubstantiated allegations cann

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