Pakistan polls 2024: Imran Khan's party PTI wins back cricket 'bat' symbol as court declares ECP order unconstitutional

Pakistan is gearing up for general elections on 8 February. Amid this, a major relief came for jailed former PM Imran Khan on Wednesday as a high court in the country declared as unconstitutional the election commission’s decision revoking Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) cricket ‘bat’ electoral symbol and rejecting its organisational polls.

According to a report in Dawn newspaper, the Peshawar High Court directed the Pakistan Election Commission to return the PTI’s its iconic cricket ‘bat’ electoral symbol and upload the party’s certificate of internal elections on its website.

The decision comes moments after the Imran Khan’s party withdrew from the Supreme Court its appeal seeking the restoration of its electoral symbol.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on 22 December, 2023, decided against letting PTI retain its electoral symbol for the general election in the country, saying it had failed to hold intra-party polls under its current Constitution and election laws.

A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Arshad Ali termed the ECP’s decision “incorrect”.

The PTI had approached the Peshawar High Court against the ECP order on 26 December and a single-member bench restored the electoral symbol of the party till 9 January.

On 30 December last year, the electoral watchdog filed a review petition in the Peshawar High Court, arguing that the court had overstepped its jurisdiction. Days later, the high court restored the ECP order, stripping the party of its symbol again. Subsequently, the PTI moved the Supreme Court against the restoration of the ECP ruling.

A day earlier, PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar had argued before the Peshawar High Court that the electoral watchdog was “only a record keeper” and did not have the power to “snatch a party’s electoral symbol.”

After marathon arguments advanced by lawyers representing the PTI and the ECP for almost five hours, the bench had adjourned the hearing till Wednesday.

Justices Anwar and Ali presided over the hearing, where counsels of those challenging the PTI’s intra-party polls were to present their arguments.

Speaking to the media outside the high court after the announcement of the verdict, PTI counsel Zafar said: “Now, no one can stop PTI from winning these elections.” Hailing the decision, the PTI Senator said Peshawar High Court kept its tradition of announcing decisions as per law.

“Court has ordered to restore PTI’s bat symbol and upload intra-party polls results on its website immediately,” he added.

The court has annulled the decision to take away PTI’s electoral symbol. “It was a conspiracy against the PTI to deprive it of the bat symbol,” said Barrister Zafar.

With inputs from PTI