'Bat Symbol': PTI to challenge ECP decision in court

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan Saturday announced to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision in the high court and the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the ‘bat’ symbol, ARY News reported.

In a statement, Barrister Gohar Khan said that PTI rejected the ECP’s decision, rejecting the allotment of ‘bat’ symbol to the political party for the general elections 2024. “We will challenge the verdict in the high court and the Supreme Court.”

“There will be no changes in running the party affairs. We are requesting the judiciary to hear our petition at the earliest.”

Elaborating on PTI’s strategy, Barrister Khan said that independent candidates will get reserved seats if the election symbol is not allotted. He added that the lawmakers on reserved seats play an important role in electing the president, prime minister (PM) and chief ministers (CM).

Related: ECP revises schedule for general election 2024

Khan said that petitions could be filed against the election commission in all high courts. “We also have options of approaching the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and the Supreme Court (SC), however, the final decision has not been taken yet.”

“Our entire struggle is to get our desired election symbol. We believe that ECP could not retain its order as it violates the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) directives. These tactics are being used to stay PTI away from politics.”

The PTI chairman warned that chaos will spread in the country if fair and free elections are not held.

Gohar Khan said that the PTI founder directed to challenge the ECP decision. “We will challenge the verdict on Tuesday. We have not received the certified copies of the ECP verdict yet.”

Related: ECP takes notice of PTI’s reservations on ‘level playing field’

The PTI chairman appealed to the judiciary to restore ‘bat’ symbol. He also complained about PTI candidates being stopped from submitting their nomination papers.

ECP verdict

Yesterday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost their electoral symbol ‘bat’ as Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the reserved verdict on the party’s intra-party elections.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) earlier reserved its verdict on pleas challenging the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) intra-party elections after hearing arguments from all the parties.

Announcing the reserved verdict, a five-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), headed by Chief Election Commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, declared the PTI’s intra-party elections null and void.

Following the ECP verdict, the newly elected PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan who replaced Imran Khan earlier, will no longer remain as party’s head.