KARACHI, April 15: The Sindh High Court admitted to regular hearing a writ petition questioning the participation of minority voters in the election of nazim and naib nazim in a union council in which their strength was less than 10 per cent of the total number of electors.

Petitioners Arshad Ali Khan and Tahiruddin Siddiqui submitted through Advocate M. Nawaz Shaikh that the number of non-Muslim voters in union council eight of Liaquatabad Town had 28,485 voters out of whom only 1,686 were non-Muslim.

They could only elect a councillor to the seat reserved for minorities but could not take part in the election of nazim and naib nazim. Minority voters could contest and cast their ballots in the nazims' election only if they numbered more than 10 per cent.

The petitioners said their rivals would not have won the UC election if minority votes were excluded. They moved an election petition but it was dismissed by an election tribunal consisting of the district judge (central) on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment, which, according to them, was not applicable to the case.

They relied on the provisions of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance and local body-election law and rules. A division bench comprising Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain observed that the questions raised merited consideration. Admitting the petition, it directed that notices be issued to the respondents for a date in office.