In a significant legal triumph for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has temporarily suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) directive, thereby reinstating the party’s distinctive election symbol, the “bat,” pending a final decision on the petition.
In the verdict, which was announced following PTI’s legal challenge to the ECP’s declaration of intra-party polls as “illegal,” the court stated that a double bench would convene to address the matter after the winter vacations.
The Election Commission had, on December 22, revoked the party’s iconic “bat” symbol in response to a petition by former PTI leader Akbar S Babar, who contested the intra-party elections’ adherence to regulations. During today’s hearing, Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel of the PHC emphasized that the ECP must allocate the electoral symbol to PTI, as revoking it after the election schedule’s issuance is not permissible.
In its plea filed today, the party named the ECP and those challenging the party elections as respondents, urging an expedited hearing of the matter.
Reacting to the PHC’s decision, PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan lauded the ruling, asserting that it “delivered the final blow to conspirators.” He highlighted that the attempts to undermine PTI had failed in the wake of the PHC’s decision, emphasizing the necessity of suspending the ECP’s verdict to safeguard the party’s interests.
