PTI to play without ‘bat’

Election 2024 : CJP Isa-led three-member Supreme Court bench issues unanimous verdict on election commission’s plea
Islamabad, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took a major blow on Saturday after the Supreme Court annulled the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) January 10 order, depriving the former ruling party of its ‘iconic’ electoral symbol — bat — just days ahead of the general elections.
A three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali — announced the verdict after a day-long hearing.
The election commission had on December 22 barred the PTI party from keeping its ‘bat’ symbol for the upcoming February elections, citing irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party’s own constitution and election laws.
Following the ECP’s decision to revoke their symbol, the PTI challenged it in the PHC. A single-member judge granted temporary relief, reinstated the bat symbol, and referred the case to a larger bench for a hearing on January 9.
Then, on December 30, the polling body challenged the PHC’s jurisdiction over the matter. However, in a dramatic turn of events, the PHC reversed its earlier decision and upheld the ECP’s order.

Justice Mazhar then posed two questions, whether the ECP has the authority to investigate intra-party polls and whether the apex court has jurisdiction.
PTI’s counsel stated that the electoral body does not have the right to review a party’s intra-party polls under the Elections Act 2017 or the Constitution.
He maintained that the ECP had “discriminated” against PTI and added that none of the party’s members had challenged the intra-party election and reiterated that those challenging were not party members.
Zafar added that the commission had not mentioned any irregularity in its Dec 22 order and the reasons given were “strange”.
CJP Isa asked the lawyer to provide context to the court for the allegations against ECP and to keep the “arguments legal”.
After further back and forth, the CJP observed that the party’s constitution stated that the “chairman shall be elected every two years while others every three years. Violation of the party constitution is proved to this extent”.
The top judge observed that PTI was served a notice by ECP when the party was in the government. Justice Mazhar asked whether the party had followed the election schedule it issued and were the intra-party polls transparent.
“You ask for a level-playing field but would also have to give the same to party members.”
Justice Mazhar observed that irregularities pointed out by the ECP are from PTI’s constitution itself, to which the party’s counsel said that the ECP has not identified any concerning election schedule and venue.
The CJP then said the matter is whether the inter-party polls were conducted or not.
Zafar reiterated that the ECP did not have the authority to scrutinise inter-party elections, however, Justice Isa said the counsel had himself stated that the electoral body could impose a fine for not properly holding polls but is arguing simultaneously that the ECP does not have authority.
The bench further questioned the manner in which the polls were held and questioned the lack of evidence for arguments presented in court.