Pakistan’s former PM and the chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), Imran Khan partially won a legal battle when the Peshawar High Court on December 26, 2023, suspended an order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to deprive the PTI of its electoral symbol which is a cricket bat.
ECP Order
Last Week, the Election Commission Of Pakistan, in a verdict rejected the intra-party polls of Khan’s party and also stopped it from using the bat as an electoral symbol. The ECP had issued a verdict following a first-of-its-kind microscopic examination of the internal functioning and working of a political party and declared the party ineligible to obtain an election symbol to contest the upcoming elections
“It is held that the PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated November 23, 2023, and failed to hold an intra-party election following PTI prevailed Constitution 2019 and Election Act 2017 and Election Rules 2017, the ECP said in its eleven-page order.
Protest by the PTI
The party had announced to challenge it and got partial relief which is a victory for the PTI, especially as it is fighting on multiple fronts to contest elections and get its incarcerated leader Imran Khan Niazi out of jail.
The party had termed the decision part of the “famous London Plan” and a “disgusting and shameful attempt to stop PTI from participating in the election”. It claimed that the party would still win the general elections, maintaining that it would appeal the decision at every forum. The PTI asserted that its candidates would contest the polls with the ‘bat’ symbol, come what may.
Earlier on December 26, 2023, the PTI challenged the ECP order and urged the court to fix the matter for hearing at the earliest. The party insisted that the ECP proceedings that questioned the PTI intra-party polls were coram non-judice (without jurisdiction) and without lawful authority. It urged the court to direct the ECP to publish the results of the PTI intra-polls on its website and restore the symbol of the party.
What will happen to the 225 reserved seats if a party is stopped from participating in elections under its designated symbol? Barrister and Imran Khan nominated intra-party head Gohar Ali Khan said, following the submission of the petition. He emphasized the gravity of the situation and said that it impacted 250 million people.
Peshawar Court Decision
The PTI had challenged the verdict in the Peshawar High Court where after a detailed hearing, Justice Kamran Hayat Miyankhel suspended the ECP ruling until the final adjudication of the petition.” It is the victory of justice and we hope that in the final decision, the court will permanently revoke the ECP Ruling,” said Barrister Gohar Ali Khan who was elected as the party’s new chairman in the intra-party polls held in Peshawar earlier this month
During the hearing, PTI Counsel Barrister Ali Zafar highlighted that when a party provides its intra-party poll details to the ECP, the commission typically issues a certificate and posts it on its websites. However, Zafar argued that as of now, the certificate has not been uploaded to the ECP Website.
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