By: Abdul Hakeem
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) declaration of the PTI’s intra-party polls as unconstitutional and the revocation of the party’s ‘bat’ election symbol.
Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel announced the verdict shortly after reserving his order on a PTI petition against the ECP decision.
The court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said that general elections were scheduled for February 8 and the last date for allotment of election symbols was January 13. It directed that notices be issued to all respondents for Jan 9 and suspended the ECP’s December 22 order. The court also ordered the ECP to publish the PTI’s certificate on the commission’s website and restore the party’s election symbol “keeping in view the urgency, that a political party has been denuded of its symbol, meaning hearby that aspirants from the general public who were willing to vote for the petitioners’ party were divested of their right to vote as per their choice”. The submission of the party’s plea comes after the electoral watchdog last week voided, for the second time in under a month, the PTI’s internal elections in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the party’s new chairman.
The ECP had issued a verdict following a first-of-its-kind microscopic examination of the inner workings of a political party and declared the party ineligible to obtain an election symbol to contest the upcoming general elections.
“It is held that PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated 23rd November 2023 and failed to hold intra-party election in accordance with PTI prevailing Constitution, 2019 and Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017,” the ECP had said in its 11-page order.
The party had termed the decision part of the “famous London Plan” and a “disgusting and shameful attempt to stop PTI from [participating in the] election”. It had also claimed that the party would still win the general elections, maintaining that it would appeal the decision at every forum. It asserted that its candidates would indeed contest the polls with the ‘bat’ symbol, come what may.
Election symbol is the life of any party: Ali Zafar Talking to the media after the PHC verdict, PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar said the election symbol was the “life” of any party and a basic constitutional right of the organisation and its workers, supporters and voters.
“Today the high court has upheld that basic right and declared that the ‘bat’ symbol belongs to the PTI and restored it.” Zafar said the ECP had given its verdict in the case as if it was an “opponent” of the PTI instead of a just arbitrator and also questioned why the lawyers from parties or the government were present in today’s hearing. “It seemed that they were against the PTI together with the ECP,” he said.
Zafar said that the ECP should remain “independent and free”.
Meanwhile, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the PHC had undermined and eliminated the “conspiracy against the PTI, its symbol and its supporters” with its order. He added that the high court had restored the trust of the party and the nation in the judiciary.
“It seemed as if the ECP were against us, it did not feel as if they were fair,” PTI lawyer Ali Zafar said while speaking to the media outside the PHC alongside Gohar Khan, adding that a symbol is a fundamental right.
“The way lawyers from different parties were arguing in courts today, it seemed as if they were collaborating against PTI. One should not get this perspective, they should stay independent” he said.
Gohar said there was a “great need” for the suspension order since nomination papers for the general elections have been filed and the scrutiny process is under way.
He said the PTI had sent its priority list and all the provinces accepted it other than Punjab, adding that the final list issued included all political parties other than the PTI.
The PTI chairman said the party would request the ECP to ensure elections were free, fair and transparent, adding that the party had always expressed confidence in the watchdog.“Our trust was hurt, justice wasn’t done with us but we were discriminated against.”
Source: https://www.dawn.com/
Sunday, May 3, 2026
