KARACHI, Oct 25: The Sindh High Court on Friday restrained the Election Commission from proceeding with election to reserved seats in the National Assembly pending hearing of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement candidate’s petition against its failure to notify his name as an MNA-elect.

A division bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Amir Hani Muslim issued a notice to the EC for Oct 29. A notice was also issued to the attorney-general for the same date as the petitioner, Kunwar Khalid Yunus, had agitated a matter of public importance involving interpretation of constitutional provisions.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, Advocates K.M. Nadeem, Aftab Ahmed Shaikh and Muzaffarul Haq submitted that according to the certified result of NA-245 (Karachi-VII) sent by the Returning Officer to the EC on Oct 12, Mr Yunus had secured the highest number of votes (51,696) defeating his nearest rival, Syed Munawar Hasan of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, by about 10,000 votes.

Despite his undisputed success as certified by the RO, the counsel said, the EC had failed to notify the petitioner as a successful candidate from NA-245 as required by the law. He sent a letter to the chief election commissioner through fax and a courier service but to no avail. Subsequent attempts to know the reason behind the omission also failed to elicit any response.

The counsel said the petitioner had neither been informed why his name was not notified nor given an opportunity to meet any objection. He had been condemned unheard in violation of the law and the norms of natural justice. The EC had no power to withhold a result. It should announce the result as intimated by the RO or declare the election void, for which, too, a notification was required to be issued.

The petitioner said that his constituency, which had elected him thrice, had been disenfranchised for the purpose of election to the reserved seats. His party would also suffer irreparable loss as it would not be able to secure its due share of the seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly.

Accepting the stay plea, the bench observed: “In the peculiar circumstances, let elections to the women and non-Muslim seats in the National Assembly be stayed till the next date of hearing. To come up on 29-10-2002”.