AJK top court suspends restoration of PTI’s registration ahead of polls

By Syed Sheraz Bukhari

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Monday suspended a lower court’s order that had restored the registration of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on June 23, throwing its electoral future into fresh uncertainty.

The AJK apex court stayed high court’s June 23 decision, which had cleared PTI candidates to contest upcoming legislative assembly elections under their iconic “bat” electoral symbol.

The AJK Election Commission had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, contending that the high court had exceeded its jurisdiction by granting relief beyond what the petitioner(s) had initially requested.

AJK Supreme Court Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan, who heard the case, formed a full bench to hear the matter and scheduled the next hearing for July 2.

Earlier, AJK Hhe High Court’s larger bench led by Chief Justice Shahid Bahar had overturned the election commission’s decision to cancel PTI’s regional registration over alleged financial rule violations and failure to comply with internal election regulations.

That ruling had come in response to a petition filed by senior PTI leader and former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi.

While PTI leadership hailed the high court’s verdict, the Supreme Court’s intervention temporarily freezes the party’s legal status in AJK.

If the Supreme Court’s full bench rules in favour of the election commission, PTI will be stripped of its official party status in AJK, forcing its candidates to run as independents without their unified “bat” symbol in the upcoming polls scheduled for July 2.