Three-member Supreme Court bench issues unanimous verdict on election commission’s plea,
CJP Isa says PTI failed to conduct fair intra-party election,
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost “bat” as an election symbol after Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) declared Peshawar High Court verdict null and void, CJP Isa remarked that the PTI failed to conduct its intra-party election in the order. The detailed judgement will be release later.
Following the completion of arguments from both sides, a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and Justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali reserved the verdict which is set to be announced shortly.
A senior Supreme Court judge on Saturday remarked that for a level playing field, PTI should extend it internally, adding that conducting intra-party elections according to the constitution would have made it the most transparent in Pakistan.
The election commission had on December 22 barred the PTI party from keeping its ‘bat’ symbol for the upcoming February elections, citing irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party’s own constitution and election laws.
Following the ECP’s decision to revoke their symbol, the PTI challenged it in the PHC. A single-member judge granted temporary relief, reinstated the bat symbol, and referred the case to a larger bench for a hearing on January 9.
Then, on December 30, the polling body challenged the PHC’s jurisdiction over the matter. However, in a dramatic turn of events, the PHC reversed its earlier decision and upheld the ECP’s order.
Facing the prospect of losing its iconic cricket bat symbol for the upcoming elections, the PTI took its fight to the highest court in the land — the Supreme Court. However, in a strategic move, they later withdrew their appeal, hoping for a favourable outcome from the PHC.
And the PTI did get what it wanted. The PHC on Wednesday declared the commission’s order “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”. However, the ECP challenged it decision in the country’s top court on Thursday.
Subsequently, the PTI also filed a plea in the PHC against Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and other ECP members for not following up on the PHC’s order.
