On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) initiated legal action by approaching the Supreme Court (SC) to challenge the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision, which reinstated the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order resulting in the withdrawal of the party’s electoral symbol, the ‘bat.’
The petition, filed under Article 185 of the Constitution, urgently requested the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing for the matter on the following day (Friday).
The PHC had recently lifted the stay order, upholding the ECP’s ruling that invalidated PTI’s intra-party polls and revoked its use of the ‘bat’ symbol. On December 26, the high court issued its verdict on PTI’s petition contesting the ECP’s decision to strip the party of the ‘bat’ symbol.
Justice Ejaz Khan, a single-member bench, delivered the reserved verdict on the ECP’s review plea against the January 26 decision of another single-member bench.
The ECP’s initial decision, on December 2, nullified PTI’s intra-party elections for the third time in the past year, rendering PTI ineligible to use its traditional ‘bat’ symbol.
The ECP’s verdict stated that PTI had failed to comply with the directives of the Elections Act 2017, not conducting intra-party elections in accordance with PTI’s prevailing Constitution 2019, Elections Act 2017, and Election Rules 2017.
Challenging the ECP’s decision, PTI took the matter to the Peshawar High Court. The intra-party elections, which resulted in the election of Barrister Gohar Khan as the party’s chairman, took place on December 2.
The process faced criticism from estranged PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar, who vowed to challenge the entire process, alleging that PTI had orchestrated a selection process to sideline party workers and empower a select group of lawyers.
