HC verdict on uncontested election today

The High Court will deliver a verdict today on two separate writ petitions, one challenging an RPO provision that allows uncontested election of parliament members and the other seeking inclusion “no vote” option in ballots.
Article 19 of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) allows the Election Commission to declare a contender elected uncontested in a parliamentary constituency without voting. Exercising this authority, the EC declared 153 out of 300 candidates elected uncontested in the January 5 general elections without a single vote cast.
Yesterday, the bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar fixed today for delivering the judgment after concluding hearing arguments on the two petitions at the same time from the amici curiae (friends of court) and the counsels for the state, the EC and the petitioners.