By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by former prime minister Imran Khan, said on Monday that it would challenge the election commission’s decision to annul its internal elections and revoke its ‘bat’ symbol ahead of a general election due in 2024.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) barred the PTI from using its ‘bat’ symbol in the upcoming general election last week, citing irregularities in its internal polls.
The decision came after a dissident leader of Khan’s PTI party challenged its internal elections, which were held earlier this month, alleging that they were flawed, rigged, and violated the party’s constitution and the election laws.
With this decision, Gohar Khan, a close aide of Khan, 71, lost his position as chairman of PTI, days after his appointment.
The bat symbol is a reflection of Khan’s illustrious career as a cricketer, who captained Pakistan to its only World Cup victory in 1992. The symbol has become synonymous with the PTI, which claims to represent a new and clean politics in the country.
The ECP’s decision is the latest setback for Khan, who is serving a three-year sentence in a prison in Rawalpindi after he was convicted by a trial court on corruption charges in October.
The PTI will file a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the ECP’s decision on Tuesday.
The PTI, which portrays itself as a champion of new and clean politics, rejected the ECP’s verdict as “legally flawed” and “politically motivated”.
“We are not being provided a level playing field and attempts are being made to keep us away from the polls,” PTI lawyer and central information secretary Mohammad Muazzam Butt told a private news channel.
“We will try our best to ensure that our petition is taken up for a hearing tomorrow. We will appeal to the court to nullify the election commission’s decision and term it illegal.”
Another PTI lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjutha, said the party had opted for the Peshawar High Court instead of the Islamabad High Court, where he said the PTI had faced “injustice” in at least 15 cases related to Khan.
Pakistan is scheduled to hold its general elections on February 18, 2024, amid a tense political and security situation.
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