Peshawar High Court restores PTI’s electoral symbol ‘bat’, suspends ECP order till final decision on the petition

PESHAWAR, Dec 26 (SABAH): In a major legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order, restoring the party’s iconic election symbol — “bat” — till a final decision on the petition.

While announcing a verdict reserved on PTI’s petition challenging the Election Commission’s order declaring the intra-party polls as “illegal”, the court stated that a double bench will hear the matter after winter vacations.

The electoral body on December 22, stripped the party of its iconic “bat’” symbol — a sign that depicts its founder, Imran Khan’s former life of cricket, in a decision on former PTI leader Akbar S Babar’s petition challenging the intra-party elections to be in line with the rules.

During Tuesday’s hearing, PHC’s Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel remarked that the ECP would have to allot the electoral symbol to PTI as it can’t be revoked after the issuance of the election schedule.

The party had named the ECP and those who challenged the party elections as respondents in its plea filed on Tuesday with a request for an urgent hearing of the matter.

At the hearing’s outset, PTI lawyer Barrister Senator Syed Ali Zafar said the PTI was given 20 days for holding elections and it held internal party elections on December 3 in Peshawar. The ECP admitted the veracity of the intra-party elections and issued a certificate to the party, he said.

The PTI counsel said then the ECP withdrew the electoral symbol saying the one who conducted the elections was not the right person. Hence, it invalidated the elections raising objection on the election commissioner, he added.

“The ECP’s order is illegal and unconstitutional,” he argued, adding that since their symbol was withdrawn they could not participate in the polls as a political party, hence they would also lose the reserved seats which were divided among political parties.

He said a ‘symbol case’ verdict of the Supreme Court was present for reference. He said the Article 17 of the Constitution stated that everyone had the right to form association and union and the union and association had the right to elect their officials. The ECP questioned how the chief election commissioner was appointed by the general secretary, he said.

Barrister Zafar said as per the apex court the election symbol was a crucial part of Article 17. The ECP did not have the authority to question election of party officials, he said. Hence, the commission could not annul the party elections, he said adding that if the electoral authority was given this right then it would be violation of the Article 17.

The counsel reiterated that the electoral body does not have the authority to declare the intra-party election invalid and added that the “election symbol is a fundamental right that has been taken away from us”.

Justice Miankhel then asked the party’s counsel who was the petitioner in the case and “who has been mentioned in the decision of the election commission?”

“The person who had filed the petition is not even a member of the PTI,” Barrister Zafar replied and added that the election commission had become a party to this case itself.

He further added that the ECP had nowhere stated that the procedure of the intra-party polls was not correct.

Barrister Zafar contended that such grounds do not merit the invalidation of the intra-party polls. “If anyone has an objection, then file a case in a court,” he said and added that the law and the Constitution state that the election commission does not have this authority.

Justice Miankhel then inquired about PTI’s rules regarding intra-party polls. “Our party has its own rules. The chairman and the general secretary are nominated through a secret ballot,” Barrister Zafar informed the court.

The petitioner’s lawyer who had challenged the intra-party polls then interrupted the hearing, to which he was asked to await his turn by the court.

“If there has been a violation, then we would ask you whether the election commission has the authority to nullify the polls,” the judge told the petitioner’s lawyer.

Moving back to Barrister Zafar’s arguments, the court asked when were the party’s last elections held.

“The last intra-party election was held in 2017 and in 2019 we had amended the party’s constitution. In June 2023, we held the intra-party elections according to the new constitution,” PTI’s counsel informed the court.

“Then the election commission declared the elections null and void and we were instructed to conduct the polls within 20 days”.

The lawyer argued that the election schedule had now been released and the nomination papers had been submitted. “There are specific seats in the election. If the party does not have a symbol, then what will happen to it,” he asked and prayed that PTI be allotted a symbol so that they could issue party tickets to their candidates.

“Till the court passes its judgment on this case, the ruling of the election commission should be suspended so that we may have a symbol,” said Barrister Zafar.

“Do you have any document from when Asad Umar resigned?”asked the court.

“Asad Umar was arrested and when he was released, he resigned from all party posts. Media had covered it,” Barrister Zafar informed the court.

On the other hand, the petitioner’s lawyers argued that the PTI had filed an application against the election commission’s notice which then prevented the ECP from finalising its decision.

“Leave that now. It has already happened,” Justice Kamran said.

The lawyer then said that he had filed an application in the Lahore High Court (LHC). To this, the judge said that the LHC would look into that and “you answer what has been asked of you”.

“The election commission asked for an election in 20 days and they conducted it. You should say that the election commission has the authority to declare the intra-party polls null and void,” Justice Kamran remarked.

He further said that when a political party conducts intra-party polls, then they only submit a certificate.

The lawyer informed the court that in exactly seven days, the party has to submit the certificate to the ECP. “Had you not come today, we would have provided the party with temporary relief. Now that you are here, we will listen to your arguments,” Justice Kamran maintained and added that “it seems like attempts are being made to push the party out of the general elections”.

During the session, the Additional Attorney General (AAG) Sanaullah was asked how many political parties are there in Pakistan. The AAG replied with a figure of 175.

The AGG informed the court that the ECP has the authority to declare the intra-party polls invalid if complete documents are not provided to them.

However, Justice Miankhel observed that the party had been a part of the 2018 general elections, making it a registered party.

“If a party is registered and has conducted elections and has provided a certificate then how can they say that this is not right,” Justice Miankhel observed and added that the court expects the ECP to conduct fair and transparent elections.

The AGG maintained that nobody could claim that the ECP was controversial. As the hearing concluded, the AGG informed the court that election symbols would be allotted on January 13.

The petition stated that the ECP did not have the authority to decide the procedure for intra-party elections. The complainant who challenged the intra-party polls was not a party member, it added.

“The ECP withdrew the electoral symbol ‘bat’,” it read asking the court to form a bench comprising senior judges and hear the plea on Tuesday.

The PTI prayed to the court to hold and declare that the impugned order is without jurisdiction, without lawful authority and illegal and as a consequence, thereof, set it aside forthwith.

The PTI also pleaded to hold and declare the proceedings by ECP to question the validity of the IPEs on the basis of any objections filed by any persons were coram non judice, illegal and without lawful authority.

“…find and declare that ‘election symbol’ has been illegal and unlawfully been withdrawn which is, inter alia, violation of fundamental rights of the petitioners including Article 17 and Article 25 of the constitution.”

The PTI asked the court to direct the ECP forthwith to “publish the certificates of PTI on its website of ECP as required by 209 (3)” in the interest of justice and to restore its election symbol.

In the wake of PTI’s intra-party elections, held on December 2, ex-PTI member Akbar S Babar had refused to accept the polls and moved the electoral authority against it.

Following the Election Commission’s verdict that the polls were not in line with the rules, the party not only had its symbol taken away, but it was also left without a chairman — as the polls declaring Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as chairman were ruled illegal.

Talking about the decision last week, Gohar had lambasted the ECP for stripping the party of its bat symbol but hoped that the courts would back the PTI’s plea for its restoration.

“[PTI’s] electoral symbol will be restored,” hoped Gohar, who is also a lawyer by profession.

Political analyst Mazhar Abbas had told Geo.tv that the election commission has “never” declared any political party’s internal polls unlawful, noting that it seems like the PTI is “under attack”.

This is not the only pressing matter for the PTI. Its former chairman, Imran Khan, is behind bars and he is the main driving force behind the party’s votes.

Although he was granted bail in a cipher-related case last week by the Supreme Court, the PTI founder was arrested in two other cases before that and his release remains uncertain.

Moreover, since he was convicted in a corruption case, he has been barred from contesting elections for a period of five years. His sentence is suspended, but isn’t overturned so far.