Peshawar High Court admits 'bat' doesn't belong to PTI, restores ECP orders
Pakistan
LHC to deliver its judgment on a similar petition tomorrow
PESHAWAR/LAHORE (Web Desk/Dunya News) – The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday accepted the review plea filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), restoring the December 22 orders under which the PTI was deprived of “bat” – the party symbol.
Thus top provincial court reversed the single-bench’s December 26 verdict, which had suspended the ECP decision till January 9, enabling the PTI to use its party symbol.
On the other hand, the LHC (Lahore High Court) will announce its judgment on a similar petition tomorrow (Thursday).
It was a single member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Khan, which heard the ECP plea and reserved judgment representatives from both sides presented their arguments.
Sikander Bashir Mohmand was the ECP’s counsel while Shah Faisal Uthmankhel and Qazi Anwar appeared on behalf of PTI.
The PTI counsel argued that the ECP decision to deprive the party of “bat” was illegal and added that no action had been taken against 19 other parties which, according to them, didn’t hold intraparty polls.
However, the ECP representative was of the view that the high court wasn’t the right forum to challenge the orders passed by the country’s top electoral body. The PTI should have moved the Supreme Court, he added.
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The review petition said the ECP is responsible for conducting elections honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law by making necessary arrangements ahead of the polls.
It mentioned that the single-member bench observed that “election is a process which starts with the issuance of the election programme and consists of the various links and stages in that behalf as, filing of nomination papers, their scrutiny, the hearing of objections and the holding of actual polls. If any of these links is challenged it really (is) tantamount to challenging the said process of election."
"This case implies that where a violation of the standards mentioned in Article 218(3) has not as yet taken place,” it noted, adding that the ECP was legally empowered under Article 218(3) to exercise its powers pre-emptively in order to avoid a violation of these standards.
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Moreover, the plea said that the petitioners had sought "interim relief" for the suspension of ECP's order and, therefore, the court could not grant final relief as an interim relief, which meant that the single-bench judgment was against the law as well as against a Supreme Court verdict issued in 1997.
THE PROCEEDINGS IN LAHORE
As the local lawyer moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) to get the “bat” – the PTI party symbol – secured and back, a single-member bench reserved its judgment on the issue which would be shared tomorrow (Thursday).
The announcement was made by Justice Jawad Hassan who had earlier stated that the judgment would be delivered today (Tuesday).
“[I] will announce the verdict today [Wednesday]. My decision would be seen as judicial precedent. [Just] wait for it,” Justice Hassan remarked.
During the hearing, the judge noted the Supreme Court had already affirmed that there shouldn’t be any interference in matters related to elections [at the high court level]. The Tehreek-e-Insaf should establish a research wing to file cases after a detailed study, he remarked.
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At the same time, the federal government representative opposed the petition, calling it unmaintainable. The petitioner wasn’t an affected party, as the plea had been filed by the lawyer in personal capacity, he added.
Moreover, the law officer said that the federal government wasn’t made a party in the petition while the Supreme Court had clearly warned against interference in election process.
On the other hand, the petitioner, who is a PTI member, argued that the PHC had issued a stay order to cancel the orders passed by the ECP [till Jan 9], meaning that the PTI would have “bat” as party symbol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but not in Punjab.
The LHC, he pleaded, could issue similar directives for Punjab.
However, the court asked the petitioner to submit written replies to some important questions, which include whether a high court could interfere in the matters already sub-judice with the Supreme Court. The other query was if any party had challenged Section 2015 of the Election Act.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing, saying that the judgment would be announced later.
