Election Symbol Drama: PTI’s Contempt Puts ECP in the Spotlight

A day before this legal action, the PHC provided significant relief to the PTI by declaring the ECP’s decision to revoke the PTI’s iconic ‘bat’ symbol and reject its intra-party polls as “illegal.” The court asserted that the ECP’s order was “without any lawful authority and of no legal effect” and directed the ECP to promptly publish the certificate of intra-party polls on its website in accordance with the Elections Act, 2017.

The PHC asserted that PTI is entitled to the election symbol based on the relevant provisions of the Election Act 2017 and the Election Rules 2017. The controversy erupted on December 22 when the ECP decided against allowing the PTI to retain its election symbol, citing the party’s failure. Intra-party elections should be conducted according to its constitution and election rules.

In response to the ECP’s decision, the PTI approached the PHC on December 26, following which a single-member bench restored the party’s electoral symbol to January 9. However, on December 30, the ECP filed a revision petition, arguing that the PHC had restored the electoral symbol. Exceeded his jurisdiction. As a result, the High Court withdrew the injunction on the ECP’s order, and took away the PTI logo once again.

In an attempt to resolve the matter, the PTI approached the Supreme Court against the einstatement of the ECP’s decision. However, the party withdrew the appeal as the PHC was already hearing the case, resulting in the PHC returning the ‘bat’ symbol to the PTI.

In the recent petition filed by PTI, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, Secretary ECP and other members of the commission have been named as respondents. The petition requested the court to punish the respondents for disobeying the orders of the PHC and charge them with contempt of court. The petition highlights the respondents’ alleged disregard for the court’s directions and failure to implement the order of the PHC within the stipulated period.

Lawyers Qazi Muhammad Anwar and Shah Faisal Ilyas filed the petition, which was accepted by the PHC and scheduled for hearing before a two-judge bench. Advocate Ilyas confirmed that despite the PHC restoring the ‘bat’ symbol, the ECP did not publish the PTI certificate on its website, leading to allegations of contempt of court.

Speaking in Rawalpindi, PTI Barrister Gohar Ali Khan stressed the importance of immediate implementation of the court order by the ECP. He demanded the ECP to publish the PTI certificate on its website without any delay to streamline the election process. Barrister Khan stressed the responsibility of the ECP to uphold the principles of free, fair and transparent elections and suggested that any possible appeal in the Supreme Court should not stand in the way of the immediate implementation of the PHC order.