Earlier today, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking a review of the top court’s verdict regarding the party’s intra-party polls and electoral symbol ahead of the February 8 general election.
Several cases are pending against the founder of the party, Imran Khan, and the party has requested a review of its January 13 decision, when the top court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s verdict declaring that PTI’s intra-party elections were “unconstitutional,” which resulted in the party losing its iconic electoral symbol. The party filed a review petition today, requesting that the apex court review the decision.
According to PTI, it is the court’s duty to review its verdict and revert back to the Peshawar High Court decision of January 10, which ruled that the decision of the ECP was invalid.
Almost a six-month period has passed since the PHC announced its decision to annul the intra-party election and revoke PTI’s electoral symbol “bat” following the hearing of PTI’s petition challenging the ECP’s decision.
Moreover, the petition of the PTI also claimed that the party’s elections held within its club in December had been conducted in accordance with the constitution of the party.
The petition for review of intra-party elections by the Election Commission was filed by the PTI in response to the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its ruling delivered last week, annulled the order of the PHC dated January 10, thereby robbing the former ruling party of its ‘iconic’ electoral symbol – the bat – that had been made its registered electoral symbol. The bench was headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprised of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali.
A five-page verdict made by the apex court stated that the judges were unable to agree with the PHC which stated that the ECP did not possess any jurisdiction over internal party elections of political parties and had no jurisdiction to question or adjudicate them.
As a result, accepting any such interpretation would result in the impossibility of holding intra-party elections and would render all provisions contained in the Election Act of 2017, which require the organisation of such elections, redundant and illusory.
Since the ECP had been seeking to hold intra-party elections on behalf of the PTI since 24 May 2021, when the party was in power, the judgment stated that it could not be claimed that the ECP was victimizing the PTI by requesting intra-party elections.
A five-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was considering a petition filed by the PTI in the PHC today which the Court found was unenforceable due to the fact that the petition failed to disclose another similar petition which was pending before the same five-member bench in Lahore.
According to the apex court, while a petitioner has the right to pursue his remedy before either court, once he makes his choice, the same dispute cannot be taken to the other court once he has decided on a particular court.
Timenews provided that news
+ There are no comments
Add yours