Pakistan: Peshawar High Court reserves its verdict on ECP’s appeal against restoration of PTI’s electoral symbol

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party filed review pleas against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to suspend the electoral body’s declaration of the party’s organisational polls as “void” and the revocation of its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, and a High Court in Pakistan reserved its decision on Tuesday.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last month rejected PTI’s intra-party elections and stripped the party of its cricket bat symbol, leaving imprisoned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party without an electoral symbol. In the December internal elections, Barrister Gohar Khan emerged victorious as the new chairman of the party.

The PTI’s intra-party polls were declared unconstitutional by the ECP on December 26, and the party challenged this ruling in the Peshawar High Court. The ruling also suspended the party’s iconic symbol. The high court’s decision was contested by the election commission.

The Dawn newspaper stated that the ECP’s attorney argued during the Tuesday hearing chaired by Justice Ejaz Khan that the election commission requested a review of the PHC’s decision.

At the outset, Justice Khan inquired if the Supreme Court had passed orders that directives issued by a high court applied to the entire country, the paper said.

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“Absolutely. The Supreme Court suspended the Lahore High Court’s decision regarding returning officers,” the lawyer replied. He elaborated that the judgment was suspended under a unilateral decision.

“The second point is that the interim relief and final plea are the same,” he added.

At one point, the judge asked where the petitioner in the case was to which the ECP counsel said he was unaware.

Justice Khan said that he could not issue an order in the case as it was fixed before a division bench on January 9. However, the ECP lawyer said he only wanted the court to withdraw the PHC order, adding that arguments would be presented before the division bench.

Subsequently, the court reserved its verdict, the newspaper reported.

On Monday, PTI chairman Barrister Khan said that his party will participate in the general elections even without getting the cricket ‘bat’ as its electoral symbol.

Khan made the remarks during a meeting with journalists in Islamabad where he responded to their questions and talked about the current political situation in Pakistan, including the challenges confronting his party, especially over the election symbol.

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Khan said that his party would participate in the Feb 8 elections even on a different symbol if ‘bat’ was not allotted but he would never leave the field open for other parties. “Even if we do not get the bat symbol, we will still participate in the elections. PTI will not boycott the elections under any circumstances,” he said.

Additionally, he denied any notion that his party was at odds with the influential military establishment. “The country and its armed forces belong to us, and there is no disagreement with anyone, not even the establishment,” he declared. “PTI and Imran Khan have maintained this since the beginning.”

In addition, he bemoaned the “unprecedented” treatment his party had received and urged the Supreme Court to intervene to address the party founded by Imran Khan’s lack of equal opportunities.

In the lead-up to the elections, he made these comments while the PTI was under unusual pressure to receive fair treatment. Following the violence on May 9, the party encountered difficulties when its supporters attacked military installations.

(Source: PTI)