Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Saturday observed that violation of the PTI\u2019s party constitution was \u201cproved\u201d to the extent of the party chairman\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Justice Isa said, \u201cThe PTI\u2019s constitution says that the chairman shall be elected every two years while other [members] every three years. Violation of the party constitution is proved to this extent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remarks came as a three-member bench \u2014 comprising the CJP, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali \u2014 resumed hearing the ECP\u2019s petition challenging the Peshawar High Court\u2019s (PHC) decision to restore the PTI\u2019s \u2018bat\u2019 election symbol.<\/p>\n
The ECP will allot election symbols to political parties today. The SC proceedings were being broadcast live on the SC\u2019s website and YouTube.<\/p>\n
On December 22, the ECP had decided against letting PTI retain its electoral symbol for the general elections, saying that it had failed to hold intra-party polls as per its prevailing constitution and election laws.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, the PTI approached the PHC against the ECP order on Dec 26 and a single-member bench restored the party\u2019s electoral symbol until Jan 9, directing that the case be fixed before a divisional bench.<\/p>\n
On Dec 30, the electoral watchdog filed a review application in the PHC, arguing that the court had overstepped its jurisdiction. Days later, in a major blow for the PTI, the high court withdrew the stay on the ECP order, stripping the party of its symbol again.<\/p>\n
Consequently, the PTI moved the Supreme Court against the restoration of the ECP ruling. On Wednesday, the party had withdrawn the appeal as the matter was already being heard by the PHC.<\/p>\n
The same day, the PHC had declared \u201cillegal\u201d the ECP\u2019s decision to revoke PTI\u2019s iconic \u2018bat\u2019 symbol and reject its intra-party polls. In the short order, the PHC had termed the ECP order as \u201cillegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the court, the PTI was entitled to the election symbol \u201cstrictly in terms of sections 215 and 217, read with any other enabling provision of the Elections Act 2017 and Election Rules 2017\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the ECP had challenged the PHC\u2019s decision to restore the PTI\u2019s election symbol. Simultaneously, the PTI initiated legal action in the PHC, filing a contempt petition against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and other ECP members for not implementing the high court\u2019s order in the case.<\/p>\n
During the previous hearing yesterday, CJP Isa had observed that democracy was a fundamental right, which should be present in both a country and a political party.<\/p>\n
Justice Isa had also highlighted that the case was \u201ctime sensitive\u201d with the Feb 8 general elections approaching, adding that the matter required \u201cimmediate attention\u201d.<\/p>\n
ECP counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan had contended that the PTI had held its intra-party polls \u201csecretly\u201d and the elections were not in accordance with the party\u2019s documents. Upon being repeatedly questioned, he also assured the bench that no discriminatory behaviour had been adopted with the party.<\/p>\n
The apex court is expected to announce its verdict on the ECP\u2019s appeal today as returning officers (ROs) are also set to allocate poll symbols to electoral candidates.<\/p>\n
During today\u2019s hearing, Hamid Khan appeared as the PTI counsel while Makhdoom Ali Khan was present as the ECP lawyer. PTI lawyer Ali Zafar and the party\u2019s chief election commissioner (CEC) Niazullah Niazi were also present in the courtroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Saturday observed that violation of the PTI\u2019s party constitution was \u201cproved\u201d to the extent of the party chairman\u2019s election. Justice Isa said, \u201cThe PTI\u2019s constitution says that the chairman shall be elected every two years while other [members] every three years. Violation of the party constitution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-380574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n