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The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) order declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s intra-party polls as unconstitutional and revoking its electoral symbol of a cricket bat, with single-member bench declaring the matter would be taken up a division bench once the winter break concludes.
In its petition, the PTI had urged the PHC to fix the matter for hearing at the earliest, arguing that the ECP order was “without legal authority and jurisdiction.” It also urged the court to direct the electoral body to publish the results of the PTI’s intra-party polls on its website and restore the symbol of the party, contending the complainant who had challenged the intra-party polls was not an active party member and could not question them. It had also voiced apprehension over losing access to reserved seats if its candidates were not allowed to contest under the party symbol.
The single-member bench led by Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel further ordered that a division bench of the PHC take up the case again on the first working day after the conclusion of the court’s winter break. It said the status quo would continue pending resolution of the case, adding the electoral process should not be derailed.
At the outset of the hearing, PTI counsel Ali Zafar noted the ECP typically issues a certificate against a party’s intra-party poll details and posts it on its website. He said after the party had held intra-party elections on Dec. 3, in line with an earlier ECP order, the electoral body had issued this certificate and approved its electoral symbol.
Subsequently, he regretted, the ECP withdrew the electoral symbol after ruling the polls were not conducted properly, invalidating the process. “The ECP’s order is illegal and unconstitutional,” he argued, stressing the revocation of the symbol meant the party could not participate in polls as a political party, and as such lost reserved seats. Referring to a Supreme Court ruling, he said 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. In this regard, he argued, the ECP could not question how the PTI’s general secretary had appointed its chief election commissioner.
During proceedings, the judge observed that the order virtually sidelined the PTI from the electoral process. He also remarked that an electoral symbol could not be revoked after the issuance of the poll schedule.
At one point, Justice Miankhel questioned whether the ECP had the authority to revoke intra-party polls. He also questioned if the PTI had access to a written resignation from former secretary general Asad Umar, to which the PTI said the exit was made public and widely reported by media.
Last week, the ECP had declared “unconstitutional” the PTI’s intra-party polls on a challenge filed by party founding member Akbar S. Babar, nullifying the election of Gohar Ali Khan as the new chairman, replacing Imran Khan. “It is held that PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated 23rd November 2023 and failed to hold intra-party election in accordance with PTI prevailing Constitution, 2019 and Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017,” read the ECP order, which had revoked the PTI’s electoral symbol and virtually declared it leaderless.
Immediately after the ruling, the PTI had vowed to contest it in courts, adding it could approach either the Lahore High Court or the PHC, or even the Supreme Court.