PTI to approach SC or PHC for Bat Symbol
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the former chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced on Saturday that the party intends to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to revoke the iconic ‘bat’ election symbol through legal means. The PTI leader revealed plans to approach either the Peshawar High Court (PHC) or the Supreme Court. The ECP had deemed the PTI’s intra-party polls as “unconstitutional” and nullified its claim to the electoral symbol a day earlier.
Speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Barrister Gohar stated that the petition for reclaiming the ‘bat’ symbol would be filed on Tuesday morning, with consultations on the matter nearly finalized. Without explicitly mentioning the ECP, he suggested that the decision was part of an orchestrated effort to deny his party the 227 reserved seats, alleging a conspiracy behind the recent order.
Party’s election were challenged
On November 22, the ECP instructed the PTI to conduct intra-party elections within 20 days to retain the ‘bat’ symbol, cautioning that any deviation would disqualify the party from obtaining another symbol for the upcoming general elections. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed on December 2, following the ECP’s directive, but the results were subsequently challenged on December 5, primarily by Raja Tahir Nawaz and PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, who had differences with the leadership.
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In a letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, Akbar S Babar requested the ECP to prevent the PTI from using the ‘cricket bat’ symbol until transparent intra-party polls were conducted. He further urged the commission to appoint an independent third-party monitor for the fresh polls. By December 8, at least 14 applications had been filed against the intra-party polls, prompting the ECP to issue a notice to the party. The ECP’s decision to nullify the polls, announced yesterday, was based on these applications.