The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) declaration of the PTI’s intra-party polls as unconstitutional and the revocation of the party’s ‘bat’ election symbol. This verdict was given after the court reserved its decision on a PTI petition against the ECP decision.
The court directed that notices be issued to all respondents for Jan 9 and suspended the ECP’s December 22 order. Additionally, the court ordered the ECP to publish the PTI’s certificate on the commission’s website and restore the party’s election symbol. The party had submitted a plea following the ECP voiding the PTI’s internal elections for the second time in under a month, in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the party’s new chairman.
The Party had deemed the decision as part of the “famous London Plan” and an attempt to prevent PTI from participating in the election. After the PHC’s verdict, PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar said the election symbol was the “life” of any party and a basic constitutional right of the organization and its workers, supporters and voters. Zafar also criticized the ECP’s judgment and the presence of lawyers from other parties at the hearing, claiming that it seemed as if they were against the PTI.
The PTI chairman also expressed that the party would request the ECP to ensure the elections were free, fair, and transparent. Meanwhile, Former ruling party and the poll watchdog were both criticized for their contradictory behavior by experts.