ECP decides against letting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf retain its 'bat' electoral symbol

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 23 : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday decided against letting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) retain its 'bat' electoral symbol for the February 8 general election, Dawn newspaper reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The ECP's verdict was announced a day after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) directed the electoral watchdog to decide on PTI's intra-party polls and electoral symbol by Friday in "accordance with the law".
The development also came hours after the PTI met with the commission following the Supreme Court's order for the ECP to address the party's concerns regarding a lack of a level playing field in the run-up to the polls. According to the PTI, the ECP had assured its delegation that it would address its grievances, as per Dawn.
The ECP had taken notice of the PTI's intra-party, in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was easily elected as the party's new chairman. The polls were held on December 3, days after the ECP declared as null and void the intra-party polls held in June 2022, giving the PTI 20 days to hold fresh elections or be ready to become ineligible for the poll symbol.
As per Dawn, the party was on the receiving end of sharp criticism over the polls as estranged PTI founding member Akbar S Babar announced that he would challenge the entire process. He had alleged that the PTI had carried out a selection process aimed at throwing out party workers to give the reins to a few lawyers.
Akbar had approached the ECP against the intra-party elections, alleging it was "rigged and fraudulent". Various other petitions were also submitted to the ECP along similar lines as Babar's, with the mutual demands of declaring the intra-party election without effect and orders for the exercise to be carried out anew.
A five-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday reserved judgement on the matter linked to the allocation of the 'bat' as the PTI's electoral symbol.
In its order, which was posted on social media platform X, the ECP said that according to the PTI constitution, the Federal Election Commission would be formed to hold intra-party elections.
It said the record submitted by the PTI did not show that any competent authority had appointed the Federal Election Commission in line with established procedure.
It added that the appointment of a single federal election commissioner was not a requirement of the PTI constitution and such an individual could not exercise any power to hold the intra-party elections in the absence of a complete commission, according to Dawn.
The ECP said the PTI had not complied with its directions and had failed to hold intra-party elections in accordance with the party's prevailing constitution and the election laws.
"Therefore, the certificate dated December 4 and Form-65 filed by the alleged chairman, is hereby regretted and rejected accordingly," the ECP said.
"The provisions of Section 215 of the Election Act, 2017 are hereby invoked and the PTI is hereby declared ineligible to obtain the election symbol for which they have applied for," the ECP added, according to Dawn.