On Wednesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) successfully reclaimed its ‘bat’ symbol after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) invalidated the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to strip the party of its iconic election symbol.
The PTI had challenged the ECP’s ruling, which declared the party’s intra-party election null and void and revoked the use of the ‘bat’ symbol.
A two-member bench at the Peshawar High Court, comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Arshad Ali, delivered the verdict, overturning the ECP’s decision and granting PTI the right to contest elections using the ‘bat’ symbol. The court also directed the electoral body to publish PTI’s certificate on its official website.
Earlier on January 3, the PHC had lifted the stay order, reinstating the ECP’s decision to nullify PTI’s intra-party polls and remove its election symbol. This decision was made by a single-member bench, Justice Ejaz Khan, in response to a review plea filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan against the earlier order issued by a single-member bench on December 26.
The Election Commission of Pakistan, in its original verdict on December 22, had declared PTI ineligible for its traditional ‘bat’ symbol, nullifying the intra-party elections for the third time since the previous year.
The ECP held that PTI had failed to comply with the directions of the Elections Act 2017, as the party did not conduct intra-party elections in accordance with its constitution and the relevant electoral laws. Consequently, the certificate and Form-65 filed by the alleged chairman on December 4, 2023, were rejected by the ECP.
