Will PTI remain symbol-less after PHC restores ECP’s ruling?

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Wednesday rescinded its earlier stay order against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) verdict that revoked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) bat symbol over unlawful intra-party elections — leaving the party in a rather unchartered territory.

The PHC’s decision to revoke its stay order has left PTI in limbo with its candidates and supporters uncertain regarding the party’s participation in the general elections scheduled to be held on February 8.

Left symbol-less, the key question that has arisen is whether the party will be able to obtain some other common electoral symbol, or will its candidates will have different symbols as they might have to contest the polls independently.

Talking to Geo News, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob shared valuable insight on the party’s options after PHC’s single-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Khan restored the ECP’s ruling against PTI’s intra-party polls.

Terming the court’s earlier verdict as “defective”, Mehboob stressed that the PHC had not only ignored the jurisdiction matter but also hadn’t heard the electoral body’s counsel on the said issue.

Lamenting that the former ruling party hastily conducted intra-party polls, the Pildat president highlighted that the PTI should have taken their due time to conduct the elections as per the rules and regulations.

When asked about whether Imran Khan’s party can obtain another common electoral symbol — other than bat — for the upcoming polls, Mehboob said: “PTI cannot contest elections on any common electoral symbol [...] every candidate will contest the polls independently with different symbols.”

“It would be difficult to ascertain who are PTI’s candidates,” he noted.

However, the Pildat chief further said that the party can use its social media presence to effect use to disseminate relevant information regarding its individual candidates and their respective electoral symbols.

Responding to a query regarding the PTI seeking another electoral symbol for the party other than the bat, Mehboob stressed that the ECP’s objection does not concern the “bat” symbol but with the fact that whether such a political party is eligible to have a common electoral symbol if it didn’t conduct its intra-party polls as per the rules and regulations.

The party’s name can be used, however, the ballot paper only provisions the names of the candidates along with their respective symbols, Mehboob said while responding to a question about whether the PTI can even retain its name in the polls or not.

The party’s candidates would have to contest the elections “independently”, he said.

When asked about whether PTI can be counted out of the polls, the Pildat official said that the party has a history of bouncing back from setbacks and that it can still utilise its social media presence to effectively publicise its candidates and their symbols from relevant constituencies.

However, the development will hurt the former ruling party, he concluded.

Meanwhile, Barrister Asad Rahim Khan told Geo.tv that following the setback in the PHC, the party can still knock on the doors of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

"[However, PTI] also has a division bench hearing in the PHC on the 9th. Depending on that decision, it can then go to the Supreme Court," the legal expert added.

The lawyer was referring to the hearing of the said case before the high court's divisional bench next week.

Separately, talking to reporters in Rawalpindi, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Khan said his party would move the apex court after due deliberations, noting that the SC "would not let this matter slide".

"The SC has already stated that revoking a party's symbol is tantamount to disbanding the entire party," the PTI leader said, hoping that his party would get relief from the top court.

Gohar noted that all PTI ticket holders would run as independent candidates if the apex court did not accept the party's plea, however, he said today's decision has "damaged" democracy.