Restoration of PTI’s election symbol ‘bat’: ECP files review plea against PHC order

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday filed a review petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the suspension of its decision stripping the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of its election symbol bat.

The ECP filed two separate review petitions against the decision of PHC, which recently restored the election symbol to PTI. The ECP has requested the PHC to withdraw the relief from the PTI and uphold the decision of election watchdog.

The review sought the formation of a two-member bench to hear the case. Mohsin Kamran Siddique representing the ECP filed the review petition in which the PTI was named respondent. According to the review petition, it was the responsibility of ECP as per Article 218-3 of the Constitution to ensure the holding of free, fair and transparent election.

The PHC on December 26 suspended the ECP’s declaration that had declared unconstitutional the PTI’s intra-party polls and had revoked its election symbol “bat”. The court had ordered the ECP to publish the PTI’s certificate on the commission’s website and restore its election symbol.

In its review petition, the ECP lawyer argued that the PHC’s verdict was against the law as well as against the dictum laid down by the Supreme Court. According to the review petition, that PHC’s powers were limited to its territorial jurisdiction whereas the PTI’s election symbol was to be allocated across the country.

The Election Commission of Pakistan asked the Peshawar High Court to constitute a special bench to hear its review petition. He said the high court had not issued notices to the respondents to hear their point of view and had given its verdict in favour of the PTI, adding that the election commission was a federal body, which could not be represented by the advocate general or additional advocate general.

The review petition contended that the powers of Peshawar High Court were limited to the territorial jurisdiction of KP only while the PTI’s election symbol was allotted across the country.