LHC throws out PTI’s plea in election symbol case

In yet another setback for the PTI, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday threw out the petition filed by the party, seeking the restoration of ‘bat’ as its election symbol saying it was inadmissible for the hearing, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.  

Justice Jawad Hassan of the LHC read out the verdict, he had reserved on the previous hearing Wednesday. 

PTI's local leader Umar Aftab Dhillon moved LHC against the withdrawal of the election symbol bat. Earlier during the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Asad Ali Bajwa raised objections to the admissibility of the petition.

The judge, in the 14-page decision, said that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) was due to take up the PTI’s petition for hearing on January 9.

He further said that under the Election Act, 2017, the election commission could give its verdict on intra-party elections.  

The judge further said that the commission was empowered to rob a party of its election symbol if it was not satisfied with these elections.

On Wednesday, the Lahore High Court had reserved its decision on the PTI’s plea challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) order under which it was robbed of its electoral symbol of 'bat'.

Chaudhry Umer Aftab, the petitioner, prayed to the court to annul the order, suspend its operation until a final decision was announced, and direct the ECP to "publish PTI's certificate on its website".

Aftab also sought a declaration by the court that the party was unlawfully stripped of its election symbol and that the ECP lacked the jurisdiction to determine the conformity of intra-party elections with the party constitution.

During the proceedings presided over by Justice Jawad Hassan, the petitioner's counsel argued that the election commissioner of Punjab was showing disrespect towards the decision of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

Justice Jawad questioned whether the provincial election commissioner could go against the decision of his chief election commissioner.

PTI's counsel contended that the party’s candidates were being harassed by the authorities. "First, they were stopped from submitting their nomination papers, and now the election symbol has been snatched from the party.”

Also on Wednesday, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had pronounced its reserved verdict in the case regarding the election symbol of the PTI and its intra-party elections.

The court had accepted the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) plea and withdrawn its previous stay order on the ECP verdict annulling the PTI’s intra-party polls and subsequently withdrawing its election symbol of bat. 

Earlier, the high court had suspended the election commission’s decision on a plea of the PTI. In its intra-court appeal, the ECP had contended that the court announced its stay on the commission’s decision to nullify the PTI’s intra-party elections and withdraw its bat election symbol without hearing it. 

With the PHC’s withdrawal of its stay order, the ECP’s decision of December 22 against the PTI has been revived.