On Wednesday, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) reinstated the election watchdog’s ruling against PTI’s intra-party polls after accepting the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) intra-court appeal.
The PTI’s intra-party polls were declared null and illegal and the party’s electoral symbol, the “cricket bat,” was thereafter withdrawn; the ECP had challenged this ruling by the high court on December 22.
Earlier today, the court had decided not to rule on a review plea.
The attorneys for the PTI and the ECP finished arguing their cases, and the ruling was postponed. Shah Faisal, Qazi Anwar, and Sikander Basheer Mohmand of the ECP were present in court with PTI counsel when the hearing began, which was presided over by Justice Ejaz Khan.
The election commission, according to PTI lawyers, is not a judicial body, and the court’s order from December 26th has not been carried out yet.
The ECP’s attempts to have the court intervene in favor of or against its decisions, he said, were contemptuous.
Furthermore, the party’s legal team brought up the fact that the electoral commission has not yet certified the party’s internal surveys and asked whether the ECP has the power to contest a high court ruling.
Legal representation for the electoral authority argued that PTI had challenged the ECP’s decision with an injunction. He went on to say that their matter could not be heard in the PHC and that they have the right to submit a writ petition against it. “They ought to have instead approached the Supreme Court,” the attorney argued.
The ECP lacked the power to invalidate the intra-party polls, according to Anwar’s appeal. He made the claim that “PTI has already contested the 2013 and 2018 elections on the bat emblem.
The court did not make a final conclusion after listening to the arguments.
Prior to this meeting
Legal representation for the electoral body had argued during the January 2 hearing that the ECP had asked the PHC to reconsider its decision. “The intra-party elections were not conducted properly,” the counsel had stated, adding that the electoral commission had issued a notice to the PTI.
“Even though the single-bench suspended the decision without listening to the ECP,” the lawyer had argued, adding that the PHC had ignored the ECP’s arguments, and that questions were raised about the election commission’s authority, making the decision unconstitutional.
Additionally, the attorney had stated that the federal government is not involved in this matter and does not have any say in the decision-making process of the election commission. According to the lawyer, “The election commission is an independent body which reserves the prerogative to give its judgments.” Any decision made by the ECP is considered final.
It is worth mentioning that the representative of the PTI was not present at the January 2nd hearing. After then, the PHC gave the PTI counsel notice to deliver his case.
ECP and PHC’s conflict
Following the electoral watchdog’s invalidation of PTI’s internal elections on December 22, the party’s distinctive ‘cricket bat’ symbol was withdrawn.
“So considering the clear mandate of the Elections Act, 2017 in conjunction with the PTI constitution 2019, it is determined that PTI has not followed our instructions from our order dated November 23, 2023, and has not conducted the intra-party election in compliance with [the] PTI prevailing constitution, 2019, the Election Act, 2017, and the Election Rules, 2017,” read the ECP’s written order.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was chosen as the next chairman of the PTI in the intra-party elections that took place earlier in December 2023, as per the directive of the electoral commission. Gohar was nominated by the PTI’s founder, Imran Khan, who is presently doing time in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
On the other hand, Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel of the PHC, which consists of a single judge, delayed the commission’s decision to invalidate the PTI’s intra-party polls and remove the ‘cricket bat’ symbol until December 26.
Along with restoring the party’s electoral symbol, the court ordered the commission to publish the PTI’s certificate on its website.
“Since the deadline for the allocation of election symbols is January 13, 2024, and the elections are scheduled for 8th February 2024, it is of the utmost importance that a political party has been stripped of its symbol. This deprives aspirants from the general public who were planning to vote for the petitioners’ party of their right to vote according to their choice,” it added.
Notifications were to be sent to all respondents on January 9, and the judge had further ordered that the injunction remained in effect until then.
In response to the PHC’s ruling, the ECP convened a meeting. The commission subsequently chose to file an intra-court appeal challenging the PHC judgment on December 30, 2023.
Justice was violated, according to the ECP’s legal experts, because the PHC’s judgment was made by a single judge without hearing the commission.
