In his judgment, CEC Justice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza referred to Article 41 (8) of the Constitution: "Validity of the election of the president shall not be called into question by or before any court or other authority."

According to Dawn News, the judge also pointed out that under Rule 5 (5) of the Presidential Election Rules, at the time of scrutiny, the decision of a returning officer accepting or rejecting nomination papers shall be final.

The petition was filed by Moulvi Iqbal Haider.

"Under Rule 5 (2), the returning officer, in the presence of persons attending the scrutiny under paragraph 5 of the Schedule, examines the nomination papers and decides any objection raised by any such person to any such nomination.

It was pointed out that no objection was raised at the time of scrutiny by anyone. Nomination papers of Asif Zardari were validly accepted and polls were held under the law in September 2008.

It was also pointed out that petitioner Moulvi Iqbal Haider was not one of the validly nominated presidential candidates," the CEC observed.

The judgment said that legally speaking, the allegations levelled were to be proved strictly in accordance with the law and any presumption, supposition and implication could not be a substitute of proof.