PHC upholds ECP’s ruling regarding PTI’s intra-party polls

PHC upholds ECP's ruling regarding PTI's intra-party polls

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) intra-court appeal was accepted by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday, upholding the electoral watchdog’s ruling against PTI’s intra-party polls.

The ECP had appealed the high court’s ruling on December 22 that declared the PTI’s internal elections invalid and that the party should not have continued to use the “cricket bat” as its electoral symbol.

On a review plea, the court had earlier in the day reserved its decision.

Following the conclusion of the PTI and ECP attorneys’ arguments, the verdict was reserved. PTI attorneys Qazi Anwar and Shah Faisal, as well as ECP attorney Sikander Basheer Mohmand, were in court as the hearing, which was chaired by Justice Ejaz Khan, got underway.

The electoral commission, according to PTI’s legal representative, is not a court entity, and the court’s December 26 ruling has not yet been put into effect.

He went on to say that the ECP’s request for the court to intervene in support of or opposition to its rulings amounted to contempt of court.

The party’s attorney also asked if the ECP could appeal a high court ruling, adding that the electoral watchdog still hadn’t certified the party’s internal surveys.

The legal representative for the electoral body asserted that PTI had submitted an injunction against the ECP’s ruling. He stated that their matter could not be considered in the PHC and that “we have the right to file a writ petition against it.” The attorney argued, “They ought to have gone to the Supreme Court instead.”

Anwar objected, claiming the ECP lacked the jurisdiction to deem the intra-party polls void. He said, “PTI has previously contested on the bat symbol in the elections of 2013 and 2018.”

Following hearing arguments from each party, the court decided not to make a decision.

The counsel for the electoral body had argued during the January 2 hearing that the ECP had requested a review of the PHC’s decision. The counsel had said, “The intra-party elections were not conducted properly, and the election commission had issued a notice to the PTI.”

The lawyer had stated that although the electoral body was involved in this case, the PHC had not taken the ECP’s arguments into consideration. “Questions were raised over the authority of the election commission and it was said that the election commission’s decision was unconstitutional even though the single-bench suspended the decision without listening to the ECP,” the lawyer had said.

The attorney went on to state that neither the federal government nor the Center are involved in this case or the election commission’s decision-making process. The counsel insisted, “The election commission is an independent body which reserves the prerogative to give its judgments,” adding that the ECP’s decision is final.

It should be mentioned that the PTI’s attorney did not attend the January 2 hearing. The PTI counsel was then given a notice by the PHC to make his case.

With the invalidation of PTI’s internal elections on December 22, the electoral authority withdrew the party’s recognizable “cricket bat” emblem.

According to the ECP’s written order, “PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated November 23, 2023 and failed to hold intra-party election in accordance with [the] PTI prevailing constitution, 2019 and Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017,” “keeping in view, the clear mandate of Elections Act, 2017 read with PTI constitution 2019,” it stated.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was selected as the next PTI chairman during the intra-party elections that were conducted earlier in December 2023 per the directive of the electoral board. Imran Khan, the founder of the PTI, who is presently detained in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, nominated Gohar.

On December 26, however, the PHC, headed by Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel, a lone judge, delayed the commission’s decision to revoke the PTI’s “cricket bat” symbol and invalidate its intra-party polls.

The commission was instructed by the court to reinstate the PTI’s electoral symbol and post the party’s certificate on its website.

It further stated, “Given the urgency with which a political party has been deprived of its symbol, aspirants from the general public who were willing to vote for the petitioners’ party were thereby divested of their right to vote as per their choice. Elections are scheduled to take place on February 8, 2024, and the deadline for allocating election symbols is January 13, 2024.”

In addition, the judge had stipulated that the injunction would stay in effect until January 9 and that notices would be sent to each respondent.

In response to the PHC’s ruling, the ECP called a meeting. Subsequently, the commission resolved to contest the PHC ruling by filing an intra-court appeal on December 30, 2023.

The ECP’s legal experts claimed that it was against justice principles for a single PHC judge to make a ruling without hearing the commission