PTI challenges ECP’s decision, files petition in PHC

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has challenged the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), asserting that the commission lacks the authority to dictate the manner in which party elections are conducted.

The petition, filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), argues that the ECP’s interference in the internal affairs of the party is unwarranted.

The contents of the petition explicitly state that those who contested the validity of PTI’s intra-party elections are not even bona fide members of the party, raising questions about their standing to challenge the internal processes.

ANP fears similar treatment at the hands of ECP

Furthermore, the petitioners, who are challenged the intra-party elections have also been included as parties in the legal challenge filed by PTI. The ECP’s decision to declare the PTI inter-party elections null and void, coupled with the withdrawal of the party’s election symbol, has ignited this legal confrontation.

In a bid to seek justice, the petition urges the court to establish a bench comprising senior judges and expedite the hearing, with the request to schedule it for today.

On this occasion, Barrister Gohar, representing PTI, addressed the PHC and said that even though there are winter vacations going on for PHC judges, even a single bench has the prerogative to suspend the ECP’s decision.

Expressing the urgency of the case, he also explicitly requested in the petition that the court fix the hearing for today. Barrister Gohar stressed the gravity of the situation, particularly in light of the upcoming Senate elections following the general election.

Addressing the potential consequences of withdrawing the election symbol, he warned, “If a political party’s symbol is taken away, the party disappears”.

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PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan also spoke at Peshawar High Court. He said, “PTI’s election symbol was and will always be bat, just like the founding chairman was and always will be Imran Khan”.

He said that the party is challenging ECP’s decision in high court, but they are also going to move the Supreme Court to file a contempt of court case.

The Supreme Court had said that anyone who obstructs the election will be held in contempt of court, said Babar Awan.