• Party assails ECP, accuses it of discrimination; claims PHC order ‘not sustainable’
• LHC also turns down plea for symbol; Gohar says PTI will contest polls at all costs

ISLAMABAD: After a decision of a single-member bench of the Peshawar High Court deprived the PTI of its electoral symbol, the former ruling party on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s order, asking it to allow the party to contest 2024 polls under its traditional ‘bat’ symbol.

Drafted by Barrister Ali Zafar and Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, the petition urged the apex court to set aside the PHC order which upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order for the revocation of the PTI’s electoral symbol over discrepancies in the Dec 2 intra-party elections, held on the orders of the election watchdog. The PTI had approached the PHC against the ECP order on Dec 26 and a single-member bench restored the electoral symbol of the party.

Subsequently, the ECP got the decision overturned through an intra-court appeal on Wednesday. The issue has now landed in the Supreme Court.

The PTI argued that the ingredients for granting interim relief to the ECP by the high court had caused irreparable harm since the order would make the PTI dysfunctional to field candidates for the elections, especially when the last date for scrutiny was Dec 31, 2023.

“This situation is thus unwarranted in law and violative of Article 17 of the Constitution,” the petition argued. It stated that the PHC order was not sustainable in law for “being misconceived”.

The petition argued that the PTI was being discriminated against by the ECP compared to other political parties. “There are 157 political parties but the ECP never examined a single political party as it did in the case of the PTI,” the petition regretted, adding that this itself became a violation of the due process of law and a violation of fundamental rights of the petitioners.

The petition contended that the ECP had no role in the dissolution of political parties since only the federal government under Article 17(3) of the Constitution “declares that any political party has been formed or was operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan”.

The PTI contended that the PHC order misread the entire election record and had ‘misapplied’ the settled principle of law. “The high court order by all means, on the face of it, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable to be sustainable since it left the petitioner without a remedy.”

The ECP has no jurisdiction to challenge the internal appointments of officials of the PTI or set aside PTI’s intra-party elections or declare them void, the petition said, adding the ECP’s decision of taking away the ‘bat’ was not sustainable.

“The ECP is not a court of law and cannot question the appointments made by any political party or examine the validity of the political party’s intra-party elections or set them aside for any reason,” it said.

On the other hand, the Lahore High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by a local PTI leader against the ECP decision to withdraw the party’s electoral symbol.

Justice Jawad Hassan dismissed the petition ‘in limini’ (at the outset) as not maintainable due to the pendency of the same proceedings before the Peshawar High Court. PTI Sheikhupura President Umar Ahmad Dhillon, who is also contesting the Feb 8 election, and another leader from Gujranwala had filed the petition.

‘Disenfranchising voters’

In Islamabad, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan held a press conference alongside the party’s spokesperson Raoof Hasan, wherein he stated that at least ‘100 million voters’ would be disenfranchised if the PTI was deprived of its bat symbol.

The PTI leaders hoped that the top court would ensure that the PTI “gets its legitimate right”. Replying to questions, the PTI leader said that Imran Khan had never said that he did not have confidence in Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

While replying to a question regarding election tickets, Gohar Ali Khan said that the PTI was working on it and soon tickets would be awarded to its workers.

He said that even if the PTI was deprived of its election symbol, it would still contest the general elections and would announce candidates representing the party. The PTI leader said the party would not boycott elections and would continue to demand a level playing field.

Nasir Iqbal and Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad and Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024