The Peshawar High Court (PHC) restored on Wednesday a decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that had denied ‘bat’ symbol to Pakitstan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) and termed its intra-party elections illegal.
The verdict, reserved earlier in the day, was announced by Justice Ejaz Khan on ECP’s review petitions.
On December 22, the ECP had decided against letting PTI retain its electoral symbol for the February 8 general election, saying that the party had failed to hold intra-party polls — which saw Barrister Gohar Khan becoming the PTI chairman — in accordance with its prevailing constitution and election laws.
Subsequently, the PTI had approached the PHC. Last week, the court had suspended the ECP’s declaration of the PTI’s intra-party polls as unconstitutional as well as the subsequent revocation of the ‘bat’ symbol. It had also noted that general elections were scheduled for February 8 and the last date for allotment of election symbols was January 13.
In its review plea, the ECP requested the court to review the PTI’s intra-party elections and its decision related to the election symbol.
PTI’s intra-party elections, in which Barrister Gohar Khan was elected as chairman of the party after being nominated by PTI founder and former chairman Imran Khan, were held on December 2 on directives issued by the electoral body.
