United National Congress candidate Adrian Shazad Ali will know on the eve of the Local Government Elections whether the Independent Liberal Party will be permitted to challenge his validity as a candidate.
Whatever the decision, however, it will not hinder Ali from contesting the Munroe Road/Caroni Savannah seat in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.
After hearing the submissions in the San Fernando Civil Court, Justice Ricky Rahim initially said he saw no urgency in giving his decision and had initially put the matter to two days after the election.
However, after hearing Deborah Peake SC, the lead attorney for the Elections and Boundaries Commission, the judge decided to give his decision on Sunday at the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain.
In his capacity as election agent for Simeon Mahabir, an ILP candidate for the electoral district of Munroe Road/Caroni Savannah, ILP’s executive member Sunil Ramjitsingh filed a judicial review application seeking permission to challenge Ali’s nomination as a candidate.
Ramjitsingh claims that Ali does not meet the legal requirements to qualify as a candidate and should be disqualified from contesting the election and his name should be removed from the ballot papers.
Ramjitsingh also claimed that Ali was not residing at Clarke Road, Charlieville, but at Mon Plasir Road, Cunupia, which was located outside of the boundaries of the district he was contesting and outside the borough.
Ramjitsingh, who was represented by his political leader attorney Rekha Ramjit, said the EBC failed to respond to a hand delivered letter to them last Friday requesting that Ali be disqualified.
A person who resides within the electoral district or ten miles outside the electoral area is eligible as a candidate.
Yesterday, however, Peake and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, representing Ali, argued that Ramjitsingh failed to put forward any evidence to support his application and asked the judge to dismiss the application.
Rahim wanted to give his decision on Wednesday.
“There is no urgency for me to give this decision even on Monday. I need to read the documents carefully,” he said.
Persad-Bissessar, however, argued that it would be unfair for Ali to go into the election with this matter hanging over his head.
The judge said those were political considerations, but decided to give his decision on Sunday after Peake agreed that his decision should not be given after the elections.
Speaking with reporters afterwards, Ali said, “No I am not concerned. I have an election to win and I am very focused,” adding that he had been getting tremendous support during his campaign.
Ramjitsingh said, “This a question of what is right and wrong. It has very little to do with whether it wins or not. If it is we have a system where candidates can merely fill out a form, hand it to the returning officer and there is no assessment and no due diligence as to the accuracy of the information then something is wrong with that system.” Ramjitsingh said it was a serious matter which affected the wider population.