Never said PTI not a party: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Friday clarified that it had never said that PTI was not a political party.

The commission said the PTI was a political party and its name was also included in the list of political parties, which was available on its website.

According to sources, the Election Commission did not misinterpret any decision, but it did not declare the PTI’s intra-party election as valid. The PTI went to various fora but the decision of the Election Commission was upheld.

However, they contended since the PTI’s intra-party elections were not valid, the logical consequence was that the ‘Bat’ symbol was withdrawn from the party under Section 215 of the Elections Act, 2017. “In today’s decision, the 39 MNAs who have been declared PTI’s MNAs had indicated their affiliation with PTI in their nomination papers, which was not submitted by these candidates. Therefore, it was not possible for the returning officers to declare them as PTI candidates,” they maintained. Likewise, the 41 candidates who have been declared independent neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor disclosed the party affiliation. Sources said the PTI candidates also did not submit any party ticket; therefore, the returning officers allowed them to contest the election in independent capacity.

They emphasized that after winning the election, these MNAs voluntarily joined the Sunni Ittehad Council within three days under the law, so there was no scope in the law to declare them as independent candidates.

In the Supreme Court, the Sunni Ittehad Council appealed the decision of the Election Commission and Peshawar High Court. “This appeal of the Sunni Ittehad Council was rejected. In this case, PTI was neither a party in the Election Commission, nor a party before the Peshawar High Court, nor a party in the Supreme Court. Therefore, giving them reserved seats is beyond understanding,” they argued.