F.P. Report
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 apex court’s unanimous verdict came after hours of wait as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa-led three-member bench decided to uphold the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) plea. The election governing body had assailed the PHC verdict declaring the commission’s order “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”.
The contention started with the December 22, 2023, decision of the election commission, barring the PTI party from keeping its electoral symbol for the upcoming February 8 elections, citing irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party’s own constitution and election laws.
This prompted the Imran Khan-led party to challenge the revocation of their symbol 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. Facing the prospect of losing its iconic cricket bat symbol for the upcoming elections, the PTI took its fight to the highest court in the land — the Supreme Court. However, in a strategic move, they later withdrew their appeal, hoping for a favourable outcome from the PHC. And the PTI did get what it wanted with PHC’s nullification of the ECP decision, but not for long as today’s verdict took away the much-sought-after electoral symbol.
At the outset of the hearing, CJP Isa said that the detailed order of the PHC restoring the PTI’s symbol has been issued, at which the party counsel termed it an “excellent decision”. Hamid then came to the rostrum, noting that today was the last day to submit the party tickets to the ECP so he would try to wrap up his arguments soon. “We also have less time as we also have to write the order,” the chief justice said indicating that the court would announce its verdict today.
Here, Justice Mazhar noted that there were two questions: whether the court had jurisdiction or not and whether the ECP has the authority to investigate intra-party polls. Zafar then argued that neither the Constitution nor the Elections Act 2017 granted the electoral watchdog the right to review a party’s intra-party elections.
Citing Article 17 of the Constitution, he asserted that contesting the elections with an electoral symbol was among a political party’s rights and that depriving a party of the same would be in violation of the Constitution.
“The election commission has discriminated against the PTI. The ECP has apparently been mala fide by taking away the ‘bat’ symbol,” he alleged, contending that the watchdog was “not a court that could grant the right to a fair trial”.
Zafar claimed that none of the PTI members had challenged the intra-party polls, asserting that they were held according to the PTI’s constitution. He highlighted that the ECP had given 20 days to hold the intra-party elections, which the PTI complied with due to the fear of the party being “excluded from the elections”. The PTI lawyer said his basic argument was that those challenging the intra-party polls were not party members. He added that the PTI had responded in writing to the ECP’s 32 questions, following which it set aside the intra-party elections.
Zafar contended that the election commission had not mentioned “any irregularity” in its Dec 22 order but said that the “reasons given were strange”. He said that the ECP had said it would not accept the intra-party polls as the appointment of the party CEC was not done correctly. However, he added, that a day ago the ECP counsel had raised technical objections and talked about “democracy within the party”.
Here, CJP Isa, reiterating his remarks from yesterday, noted, “There should be democracy within political parties as well as within the country. The basic question is of democracy, not of complete implementation of the party constitution.” “It should at least be seen that [intra-party] elections were conducted,” he said, adding that Akbar S. Babar was also a party member “even if disliked” by the party.
At one point during the hearing, Justice Isa told the PTI counsel to either “give the whole context” for its allegations of mala fide against the ECP or “keep it (the arguments) legal”. “Did we appoint them? You all appoint these people. We don’t appoint them,” he remarked, adding that the apex court could “force” the commission to perform its duties but “not take on their responsibilities”. The CJP told the PTI counsel: “Substantiate if you are taking the angle of mala fide.”
“If they’re mala fide then we look at them with very suspect eyes or you take away this allegation. I am not saying ‘take it away’. It’s your call,” he added. At this, Hamid said he would keep his arguments non-political.
