PTI to challenge ECP verdict on intra-party polls, election symbol

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced to challenge in the Peshawar High Court the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict that had declared the intra-party elections illegal, and stripped the party of its election symbol bat.

PTI’s central spokesperson Moazzam Butt said that he has prepared a petition to challenge the ECP’s decision, which he termed illegal and unlawful.

He said that he will file the petition tomorrow and try to get it heard on the same day.

The ECP’s decision, announced on December 22, 2023, nullified the PTI’s intra-party elections held on December 2, 2023, and declared the party ineligible to obtain its iconic ‘bat’ symbol for the general election scheduled on February 8, 2024.

The ECP said that the PTI had failed to hold its intra-party elections in accordance with its own constitution and the Election Act, 2017.

The ECP’s verdict came after a petition filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, who had alleged that the party’s internal polls were flawed and illegal.

ECP annuls PTI intra-party polls, strips party of bat symbol

PTI’s Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, who was elected in the disputed intra-party elections, has rejected the ECP’s ruling and accused it of being biased and conspiring against the party.

He said that the party will approach the courts to regain its ‘bat’ symbol and his chairmanship status.