The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday announced to approach Supreme Court (SC) against the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict, restoring Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order which had stripped the party of its electoral symbol ‘bat’.
Talking to journalists, Barrister Gohar Khan dubbed the PHC’s verdict “biggest reflection of the ECP’s biasness”, saying that it has decided to approach Supreme Court (SC) against the today’s order.
Gohar Khan questioned over the “legitimacy of election” after the ECP deemed the PTI’s intra-party polls “unconstitutional” and revoked the party’s iconic ‘bat’ electoral symbol. “If you take away the ‘bat’, the world will not recognise your election,” he said.
He said that the electoral watchdog was “chasing the case” like it had never done so in the past, urging the Supreme Court (SC) to “do us this kindness and listen to us,”.
Meanwhile, the Gohar Khan also said that his party would not boycott the election. “We will not boycott [the polls] under any circumstances,” he said, adding: “We will urge the SC — the ‘bat’ is not necessary, give us some other symbol.
“If the Supreme Court does not restore the bat, all the PTI candidates would the contest elections independently,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) revoked the stay order and restored the ECP decision to declare PTI intra-party polls null and void and stripping it of its election symbol — bat.
On December 26, the high court announced the verdict on PTI’s petition challenging the ECP’s verdict, which had stripped PTI of using the ‘bat’ symbol.
