PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Wednesday reserved the verdict on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) petition challenging its single-bench ruling on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) intra-party polls and election symbol ‘bat’.
A single-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Khan heard the case. The court reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from both parties.
ECP counsel Sikander Bashir Mohmand and PTI’s legal team comprising Advocate Shah Faisal Uthmankhel and Advocate Qazi Anwar appeared before the court. The electoral watchdog had filed a review petition at the PHC against its December 26 order which suspended the ECP’s order and restored PTI’s symbol ‘bat’ till a final decision on the matter.
The ECP, in its order, had declared PTI’s intra-party polls “illegal” and stripped it of ‘bat’ symbol. Following the ECP order, the former ruling party approached the provincial high court seeking restoration of its symbol ahead of the February 8 general elections.
In its petition, the ECP had requested the court to review the decision on PTI’s intra-party elections and its decision related to the election symbol. A day earlier, the court had heard the arguments of ECP counsel and then adjourned the hearing till today (Wednesday).
