ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday to contest a high court’s decision that ultimately caused it to lose its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, a senior PTI leader confirmed.
Pakistan’s election oversight body on Dec. 22 ruled that the intraparty polls of Khan’s PTI party, held in December, violated its regulations and the country’s election laws. Consequently, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared the polls null and void, stripping the PTI of its electoral symbol, the bat.
The PTI approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the ECP’s decision, following which on Dec. 26, the high court suspended the ECP’s decision and ruled the party could retain the bat symbol.
The ECP filed a review petition on Saturday in the PHC against the order and subsequently the court vacated its stay on Wednesday, upholding the ECP’s decision to strip the party of its symbol.
“We have filed a petition today and will request the Supreme Court to hear that on priority as this is a very important matter,” PTI Chairman Gohar Khan told reporters outside the Supreme Court.
He said the period for scrutinizing nomination papers was running out and the time to nominate party tickets for the upcoming national polls was also approaching.
“As we have to distribute the [party] tickets, we are trying to get this hearing as soon as possible,” he added.
Khan said the top court should play its role in removing hurdles in the way of free and fair elections, hoping that the party would be able retain its symbol.
“May Allah grant us the sign of the bat and we are hopeful to get it back from the Supreme Court,” he added.
Election symbols are crucial in Pakistan, where the adult literacy rate is just 58 percent, according to the latest World Bank data.
The bat is a reminder of Khan’s career as a successful cricketer, who is regarded as one of the finest all-rounders to emerge from Pakistan. In 1992, he led Pakistan to their first and only 50-over World Cup win.
Without the bat as its symbol, PTI nominees will have to contest the upcoming elections, scheduled for Feb. 8, as independent candidates, which may significantly undermine the party’s vote bank.
Former premier Khan, who has been in prison since August after being convicted in a graft case, has accused Pakistan’s powerful military, the ECP, and his political rivals of colluding to keep him and the PTI away from elections.
The Pakistani military, the election regulator, and the caretaker government deny his allegations.
