Pakistan: Imran Khan's party calls for full court hearing in "disenfranchisement" case
Jun 30, 2024
Islamabad [Pakistan], June 30 : The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Saturday requested the Supreme Court to fix its review petition challenging the decision to deny the party its 'bat' symbol for general elections, Pakistan-based daily, Dawn reported.
The ambit of the judgement under review is already being debated before a full bench in the reserved seats case, the application said while referring to the reserved seats case which is being heard by all judges of the Supreme Court.
The question is- whether taking away the "bat" symbol from PTI resulted in the non-allocation of reserved seats to them or whether the ECP wrongly interpreted the Supreme Court's order, Dawn reported.
The issue of reserved seats and their entitlement would remain "unresolved" unless it is heard together with the reserved seats case by the larger bench, PTI argued in its petition and also requested for an early hearing otherwise the petitioner will "suffer irreparable loss and injury".
PTI's plea that the application raised fundamental and important questions that required a hearing by a larger bench was accepted and the applications were reviewed by a bench of five judges, Dawn reported.
Through the application, the party said that the operation of the Supreme Court's January 13 judgement was causing "immense loss to PTI and the public" at large, who were "disenfranchised" from electing the party of their choice in general elections.
PTI members were unable to contest elections under a common symbol due to the said judgement where the court upheld ECP's December 22, 2023 order of depriving the party of its elections symbol, Dawn reported.
"The issue at hand involves a violation of basic fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and the delay in deciding the case is fatal."
On Sunday, Pakistan Supreme Court's Justice Athar Minallah asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to satisfy the Supreme Court that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was excluded from the electoral process legitimately, thereby forfeiting its claim to reserved seats.
