ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday to maintain the status quo in the Sindh Assembly’s PS-22 Naushahro Feroz constituency.

The order was issued on a petition filed by the PPP candidate Abdul Sattar Rajper who had won the election by securing 30,124 votes against 30,067 bagged by Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National People’s Party.

But the Sindh High Court ordered recounting on May 21 on a petition moved by Mr Jatoi. Consequently, the ECP withheld the result.

Former law minister Farooq H. Naek, the counsel for Mr Rajper, argued before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that the SHC had ordered the recounting despite the fact that it had not been sought in the petition. After a brief hearing, the bench observed that it considered it appropriate to issue notices to Mr Jatoi, the ECP and Attorney General Irfan Qadir for June 3.

“In the meanwhile status quo be maintained, subject to notice,” the court said in its order and asked its office to communicate the order to all concerned.