PESHAWAR: In a major legal victory for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Peshawar High Court (PHC) 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 today’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 today with a request for an urgent hearing of the matter.
