PESHAWAR: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali will take up today (Wednesday) the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petition challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to nullify the PTI’s intra-party polls and revoking the party’s ‘bat’ symbol.
During the Tuesday’s four-hour-long proceedings, later adjourned till 9am today, Barrister Ali Zafar and the ECP counsel wrapped up their arguments. The ECP informed the court that it would allot the electoral symbols to the candidates on January 13 (Saturday).
If there is no symbol allotted to the PTI, the party’s candidates would be considered independent, the ECP counsel Sikandar Shah Mohmand said.
In his arguments, Barrister Zafar recalled that those objecting to the PTI’s intra-party elections held in June 2022 had demanded that the party hold the elections again. He told the court that the PTI had submitted a record of its intra-party polls to the election watchdog and added that the ECP began raising questions on it later on.
The PTI lawyer contended that none of those who had challenged the party’s internal elections were PTI members even. Our 800,000 voters do not include the names of the objectors, he told the court.
Here, the ECP counsel intervened saying the petitioners had argued that the PTI’s intra-party polls had not been held as per the party’s constitution.
Barrister Zafar said that the PTI will be deprived of its share from 227 reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, adding that if the ‘bat’ symbol was taken away from the party, it would be rendered dormant.
The ECP lawyer then claimed that that no one was allowed to take part in the intra-party elections and that everything was decided from before.
“Even if intra-party elections are not held, the ECP cannot snatch a party’s electoral symbol,” Zafar argued. “The ECP is only a record keeper,” he added.
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He further pointed out that the only objection raised by the ECP to the party’s polls was that the appointment of the chairman was not made properly. “The ECP’s verdict is based on malafide and should be nullified,” Zafar pleaded.
Meanwhile, Justice Anwar inquired if the ECP had issued notices to the PTI, to which its lawyer said three show-cause notices had been served to the party. But the judge interjected that these notices were issued before the intra-party polls.
When Justice Anwar asked should a notice not have been issued after the intra-party elections, the ECP counsel replied in the negative, saying that the case was already being heard and there was no need for a new show-cause notice.
The hearing was subsequently adjourned for today after the ECP counsel concluded his arguments.
