KARACHI, Oct 29: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday decided to hear runner-up Syed Munawar Hassan before final disposal of Kunwar Khalid Yunus’s petition for his notification as MNA-elect from NA-245 (Karachi-VII) on Wednesday.

The petitioner’s counsel, K.M. Nadeem, Aftab Ahmed Shaikh and Rizwan H. Nadeem, were asked by a division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Amir Muslim Hani, to add the name of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal nominee to the petition moved by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s candidate as a respondent along with the election commission.

A copy of the amended petition was to be furnished to Hassan’s counsel, Junaid Faruqui, who would file his rejoinder by 9am on Wednesday so that arguments may commence at 11am. The stay against the reserved seats’ election would continue in the meanwhile.

Earlier, the election commission failed to justify the omission of the petitioner’s name from the list of successful candidates notified on Oct 20. The commission’s secretary, Hasan Mohammad, appeared in person to inform the court that the result was withheld in response to a complaint and not suo motu. Advocate Faruqui interjected that the MMA candidate had lodged a lengthy complaint alleging a wide range of irregularities.

The secretary also stated that the EC had scheduled hearing of the complaint in Karachi on Wednesday.

As the bench, the petitioner’s counsel and Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan discussed the implications of the EC’s decision and its impact on the court proceedings, the secretary sought to correct his statement, saying that the scheduled EC hearing related to NA-255 (Karachi-XVII) and not NA-245.

The AG made it clear at the outset that he was not so much concerned with the merits or otherwise of the petition as with the court restraint order to the EC, which has stalled the entire process of transfer of power. The composition of the parliament could not be completed and it could not be called into session.

The petitioner’s counsel rejoined that the EC was to blame for issuing an incomplete notification in spite of the returning officer’s intimation of the NA-245 ballot result, which gave the MQM man a lead of about 10,000 votes. Advocate Nadeem referred to the Lahore High Court decision to provisionally notify successful candidates, pending their petitions.

The AG said the LHC petitioners had impleaded their rival candidates while the present petitioner had not cited even the runner-up as a respondent. A stay should not have been granted without hearing the respondent EC and at least the runner-up from among the rival contestants. Mr Nadeem replied that there was no need for impleading other parties as the petition only sought a direction to a statutory body to do what it was obliged to do under the law. Omission to notify the petitioner’s name was an adverse action taken by the EC without hearing or even informing him.

“Two wrongs cannot make a right”, the AG said, and the bench agreed that it should not proceed further without hearing the main rival. Both the sides agreed with the bench that the matter was of utmost importance as it involved the representation of a constituency and that it should be decided expeditiously.