Peshawar (Web Desk): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict to restore "bat" as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) electoral symbol.
“The Peshawar High Court decision should be declared illegal. PTI did not hold intra-party elections as per the Election Act,” the ECP stated in its plea submitted to the top court.
Meanwhile, the PTI on Thursday, filed a contempt plea in the PHC against the ECP over its failure to comply with the order issued on the party’s petition against the electoral watchdog’s decision on its election symbol and intra-party polls.
The party has made the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, secretary election commission, and members of the ECP respondents in the petition, which comes a day after the high court returned the electoral symbol of 'bat' to PTI and nullified the electoral watchdog's earlier decision.
The petition stated that "this action by the ECP is considered contempt of court, hindering PTI's regular electoral process, as evident from the court's explicit instructions"
On Wednesday, the PHC restored the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “bat” symbol, declaring the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to regarding the PTI’s intra-party election null and void.
A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Arshad Ali announced the verdict on PTI’s petition challenging the ECP’s decision declaring the intra-party election as null and void and revoking party’s electoral symbol “bat”.
Last week, the revoked the stay order, restoring the ECP decision to declare PTI intra-party polls null and void and stripping it of its election symbol ‘bat’.
PHC judge Justice Ejaz Khan announced the verdict, reserved earlier in the day, on ECP’s petition.
On December 26, the PHC had suspended the ECP’s verdict, declaring the PTI’s intra-party polls as unconstitutional and revocation of the party’s ‘bat’ election symbol.
The PTI had filed the petition naming the ECP and those who challenged the elections as respondents. It had requested the court for an urgent hearing of the matter.
The petition stated that the ECP did not have the authority to decide the procedure for intra-party elections. The complainant who challenged the intra-party polls was not a party member, it added.
Later, the ECP had filed a review petition before the PHC against its decision which had suspended the ECP’s order and restored the PTI’s 'bat' symbol till a final decision on the matter.
Last month, the electoral watchdog had declared PTI intra-party polls as “unconstitutional” and revoked its claim on its electoral symbol — “bat”.
