ECP will decide today whether to challenge PHC ‘bat’ decision in SC

The Election Commission of Pakistan will hold an important meeting to decide whether it will move to the Supreme Court against the Peshawar High Court’s yesterday decision which annulled the commission’s December 22 order cancelling the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ‘bat’ symbol and declaring its intra-party polls unconstitutional, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.

The meeting will be held later today at the Election Commission Secretariat in Islamabad under the chair of Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Sources said the meeting will also be attended by the four members of the commission and special secretaries who will discuss the Peshawar High Court’s verdict regarding allotting the ‘bat’ symbol to the PTI.

The ECP Law Wing will brief the participants about the legal points of the PHC judgment.

In its decision, the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday declared “illegal” the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to rescind the PTI’s ‘bat’ electoral symbol and reject its intra-party polls.

In the short order, the PHC said that the ECP order was “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”.

The court directed the ECP to publish the certificate filed by the PTI following intra-party polls on its website.

The order further declared that the PTI is entitled to the election symbol strictly in terms of Sections 215 and 217 read with any other enabling provision of the Election Act, 2017 and Election Rules, 2017.

The verdict was pronounced by a divisional bench of the Peshawar High Court which comprised Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali.

PTI poll symbol struggle

On Dec 22, the ECP declared the intra-party polls of the PTI unconstitutional and revoked ‘bat’ as its poll symbol. The PTI moved to the PHC on Dec 26 and challenged the ECP decision. A single bench of the PHC restored the electoral symbol of the party till January 9 and directed that the case be fixed before a divisional bench.

The ECP, on Dec 30, filed a review plea in the PHC, and the divisional bench of the same court withdrew its stay on the ECP order, thus depriving the PTI of its symbol again.

The PTI again moved to the Supreme Court and the PHC and challenged the decision of the ECP.

However, the PTI withdrew its plea from the SC earlier on Wednesday pleading that the matter was already being heard by the PHC bench which later in the evening announced the verdict in favour of the PTI.

Reporter Usman Khan