PHC again hands ‘bat’ back to PTI ahead of polls

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday overturned the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s decision to revoke the electoral symbol “bat” from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and reject its intra-party elections.

The verdict was announced by a two-member bench of the PHC comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali on a petition jointly filed by PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and six other party leaders, requesting the court to declare the ECP order as illegal and without jurisdiction.

Justice Ejaz Anwar read the PHC short order which had been penned by Justice Syed Arshad Ali. The order said the ECP decision of December 22, 2023 was “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect.” The detailed judgment will be issued later.

The court directed the ECP to publish on its website the certificate filed by the PTI after holding intra-party polls. “It is further held and 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 order said.

Qazi Jawad said the PTI intra-party elections were a countrywide matter, while the PHC could only look into one province. Justice Syed Arshad Ali replied that if the intra-party elections were held in Peshawar, why a writ could not be filed in Peshawar.

Justice Ijaz Anwar asked if the elections were held in Peshawar, why these could not be challenged in Peshawar. The lawyer for the complainant said it was a matter of jurisdiction as the PTI had approached the Lahore High Court but its plea was rejected.

Justice Ijaz Anwar observed the LHC had remarked that the case was pending with the PHC and Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Ahmad Farooq Khattak, another lawyer for a complainant, said the PTI was demanding a level-playing field and it should provide its own members this opportunity as well.

Naveed Akhtar, representing another complainant, Jehangir, said his client was the Charsadda district chapter president of the party but was removed from the office only on the basis of a statement. He said the office-bearers of the party were not elected as per the party constitution.

Barrister Ali Zaffar, while responding to the arguments, insisted the PHC had the jurisdiction to hear the petition as granted by Article 199 of the Constitution. He said the PTI intra-party elections were held in Peshawar, hence the PHC had the jurisdiction to hear the case. He said the party Secretary General, Omar Ayub Khan, too, hailed from KP.

The ECP lawyer, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, submitted to the court that the PTI sought the election symbol after claiming that it had held the intra-party elections. He said the ECP was not allowed to carry out the scrutiny to determine if these elections were under the party constitution. He argued the ECP had the sole authority to reject the intra-party elections.

Justice Ijaz Anwar observed that if the intra-party elections were against the constitution, the ECP did not issue any show-cause notice to the party or fined the PTI, and instead punished it by declaring the elections null and void. The ECP lawyer said that Section 208 of the Election Act says that election should be held within the timeframe.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali asked him if the intra-party elections were held under the Section 208 of Election Act, how the electoral symbol was taken from the party under Election Act 209 with sub-section 215. The ECP lawyer said under Section 209 of the Election Act, the election watchdog was not only required to see the Election Form 65 but also be satisfied. He said the PTI took the election watchdog as a mere record keeping body, but in fact it was a regulatory body which could look into the intra-party elections.

He argued that Section 209 of the Election Act says that the party chairman’s Form 65 was an undertaking that the intra-party elections had been conducted as per the party constitution. The ECP lawyer pointed out that the PTI had not been made dysfunctional, only its intra-party elections had been invalidated.

The court asked what the procedure for the registration of a political party was. The ECP lawyer said election symbols were allotted after issuance of the election schedule. He said symbols would be allotted tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, adding the parties had nothing to do after the holding of elections.

The court reserved the judgment for some time after hearing arguments from all parties which was delivered later by accepting the PTI petition and declaring the ECP order of December 22, 2023 null and void.

Later in Islamabad, the ECP held a brief consultative meeting on the situation arising out of restoration of the symbol of ‘bat’ for the PTI. Sources in the commission told The News that certain legal and constitutional aspects of the matter were discussed during the meeting. The forum will have another but detailed session today (Thursday) where the law wing will brief the commission, and the members would also give their opinion on possible options. They pointed out the ECP is expected to decide whether or not the PHC’s decision is to be challenged before the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It is pertinent that time constraint is a real challenge, as the Returning Officers (ROs) are to allocate poll symbols to the contesting candidates on January 13, who were sent the list of symbols on Tuesday and the list did not contain over a dozen symbols, including ‘bat’.

Meanwhile, PTI senior leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan termed the PHC verdict ‘historic’ and a crucial step in ensuring free and fair general elections. Talking to reporters in Rawalpindi, he said ‘bat’ was more than just an electoral symbol, representing aspirations of the masses. He alleged that the ECP attempted to thwart the PTI on all fronts, which had resulted in denying the party’s right to retain its symbol and potentially losing 227 reserved seats.

Gohar highlighted the potential consequences, saying that 807 PTI candidates for general seats would have been forced to contest polls as independents, which would have led to corruption.

Speaking to the media after the PHC verdict was announced, PTI Senator Ali Zafar said neither the Elections Act nor the Constitution empowered the ECP to revoke any political party’s symbol. The senator said if the ECP failed to restore the ‘bat’ symbol on its website in 15 minutes, it would amount to contempt of court and made it clear neither the court nor the nation would tolerate this.

Meanwhile, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan congratulated the party and its supporters. “Kudos to [the] Peshawar High Court for upholding justice in these excruciatingly suffocating times & for granting Pakistan’s largest & most popular political party its legitimate claim on its symbol,” he wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, PTI founding member Akbar S Babar announced that the PHC verdict would be challenged in the apex court soon. “The Peshawar High Court verdict on PTI intra-party elections will be challenged before the Supreme Court and soon,” he announced in his reaction to the PHC court order, which he posted on his X account.

Separately, Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi has ruled out the postponement of general elections scheduled for February 8 on account of law and order situation. He contended that the law and order situation during general elections in 2008 and 2013 was worse than the present situation but still the polls were held. He was informally talking to reporters after meeting Election Commission member from Sindh Nisar Ahmed Durrani.

Asked if he discussed the Senate resolution, which was sent to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, with the caretaker prime minister, he said the caretaker government had nothing to do with it. He maintained that the upper house of parliament has the right to pass a resolution.

When his attention was drawn to the lackluster election campaign, the minister said the campaign will gain momentum after announcement of the final list of contesting candidates. On the internet problem on the days PTI announced to hold online events, he said these technical problems had occurred in the past as well. Solangi advised the media to contact the Foreign Office and ECP to get details of foreign observers coming to Pakistan to monitor elections.

Meanwhile, an appellate tribunal established at the Lahore High Court (LHC) upheld the RO’s decision to reject PTI founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers from the NA-122 constituency in Lahore. A lawyer for the ECP contended before the tribunal that the PTI founder had been disqualified and his proposer did not belong to the NA-122 constituency. Appellate tribunal’s Justice Tariq Nadeem announced the verdict after hearing the arguments.

Meanwhile, Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz of the Rawalpindi tribunal also rejected Khan’s appeal against the rejection of papers from the constituency NA-89 in Mianwali. The judge upheld the ROs decision declaring PTI founder unable to contest the polls from the Mianwali constituency. Imran’s nomination papers were rejected for a National Assembly constituency in Lahore and his hometown Mianwali on December 30, 2023.

Meanwhile, a joint investigation team (JIT) investigated former prime minister Imran Khan in May 9 violence case. The team remained at the Adiala Jail for more than two hours and gave Imran Khan a written questionnaire containing 35 queries. Imran said he had nothing to do with the riots and refused to own up the violence, the sources said.

The 12-member investigation team grilled the PTI founder in 12 cases lodged with different police stations of Rawalpindi. Relevant supplementary questions were raised during questioning in the presence of his counsel. The JIT would submit the complete investigation report on January 11.