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PESHAWAR, (MANEND NEWS): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a petition on Tuesday in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) challenging the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision nullifying its intra-party polls, and revoking its popular ‘bat’ symbol.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said he filed the petition in the high court after consulting the founding chief of the party and former premier Imran Khan in Adiala jail.
Imran is currently incarcerated in sentences and references pertaining to the £190 million case and the Toshakhana case. He was granted bail in the cypher case after the Supreme Court’s intervention last week.
On December 22, the election commission nullified the PTI’s elections, citing the party’s non-compliance with directives and failure to conduct intra-party elections in accordance with the PTI’s constitution and election regulations.
Subsequently, the electoral watchdog did not upload the party’s certificate on their official website after which the official ‘bat’ symbol was taken back from the party.
A day later, Gohar announced the party will challenge the ECP’s decision in the SC as well as in the PHC.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Barrister Gohar Khan, who was elected as the PTI chairman in the now- nullified intra-party polls, said that the ECP’s ruling was weak, and contained several flaws.
Separately, senior vice president PTI Sher Afzal Khan Marwat demanded to take notice of former chief minister K-P Pervaiz Khattak’s statement regarding being offered the same symbol.
ECP denies ‘Bat’ offer
In a strange twist, the ECP yesterday faced conflicting assertions after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarian (PTI-P) chief Pervez Khattak stirred the political pot by alleging he had been “offered” the symbol ahead of the upcoming elections.
The claims raised alarms among observers and the supporters of the PTI, speculating that the ECP’s action to withdraw the symbol – amid concerns that the party was being limped by ‘manipulation’ – suggested a potential handover to the splinter group.
However, the ECP swiftly countered these claims, with a spokesperson clarifying that no such symbol had been offered by the commission to Khattak or anyone else.