The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday allowed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to retain the bat as its electoral symbol as it suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) ruling regarding the withdrawal of the symbol over flawed intra-party polls.
PHC Justice Kamran Hayat issued the ruling, suspending the ECP’s Dec 22 verdict on petitions filed against the intra-party polls of PTI.
Justice Hayat remarked that the ECP was not authorized to issue a verdict on the intra-party elections. Issuing notices to the parties, he adjourned the hearing till Jan 9.
As the proceeding started, Justice Kamran Hayat asked under which law the commission could declare party polls null and void.
The court asked the ECP how it could halt the award of electoral symbols to a party after issuing the election schedule.
Justice Hayat observed, “You gave a 20-day deadline, the elections were held and documents were submitted. Does the Election Commission have powers to declare elections unlawful?”
ECP lawyer Naveed Akhtar submitted, “Our claim was that the PTI did not conduct elections on time.” Justice Hayat reprimanded him that he was beating about the bush. Justice Hayat asked him to explain what powers the Election Commission had under which it could declare the intra-party election null and void.
Earlier, the PTI filed a petition in the PHC against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision invalidating its internal elections and consequently barring the party from getting the ‘bat’ as electoral symbol.
PTI’s legal team led by Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Barrister Ali Zafar, and Shah Faisal Atmankhel appeared before the court.
The PTI has prayed to the court, through the petition, that the ECP’s decision should be declared null and void.
Awan said his party was going to challenge the decision in the PHC and would also move a contempt case in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan.
He said as per the apex court order, whoever would impede the smooth conduct of general elections would be proceeded against. The PTI leader said pre-poll rigging was underway in Punjab against his party. He said nomination papers were snatched from his party workers and leaders.
Separately, Barrister Gohar Ali met the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in jail, and after consultation, he decided to file a petition in the Peshawar High Court, according to the sources.
The ECP’s ruling reached through an unprecedented scrutiny of a political party’s internal workings, deemed PTI ineligible for an election symbol in the forthcoming general elections.
Citing non-compliance with their directives and failure to conduct intra-party elections in accordance with PTI’s prevailing Constitution of 2019, the Election Act of 2017, and the Election Rules of 2017, the ECP outlined its decision in an 11-page order issued on Nov 23, 2023.
