Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to approch SC and Peshawar Court against Election Commission's decision: Gohar Ali Khan

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 23 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Saturday said that his party was "deeply upset" over the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to nullify the intra-party polls of PTI and taking away the party's official symbol, Pakistan-based The Express Tribune reported. He said the PTI will approach the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court (PHC) to challenge the decision of the electoral watchdog.
Gohar called the ECP's decision "very weak" and added that the matter was urgent for which the PTI "will go to courts." Speaking about the upcoming elections in February 2024, he said that the party has ordered its candidates to file their nomination papers to contest in polls.
His statement comes after the ECP on Friday nullified the intra-party elections of PTI and took back its "cricket bat" symbol. A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja called PTI's intra-party polls "null and void," The Express Tribune reported.
On November 22, the ECP ordered the PTI to hold intra-party elections within the next 20 days to retain the "bat" as its election symbol. Pakistan's electoral body further said that any deviation will make PTI ineligible to obtain any other election symbol for polls set to be held on February 8, The Express Tribune reported.
On December 2, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as PTI's chairman in the intra-party elections held after the instructions given by the ECP. PTI founder Imran Khan nominated Gohar Ali Khan for the position of PTI chief. However, a resident of Islamabad challenged the results of PTI's intra-party polls after the party submitted the report of intra-party elections to the ECP.
Later, PTI founder member Akbar S Babar also challenged PTI's intra-party elections. He wrote a letter to CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja, requesting that PTI should not be permitted to use the 'cricket bat' as its electoral symbol until it conducts transparent intra-party elections, according to The Express Tribune report.
He even urged the ECP to appoint an independent third-party monitor to carry out the PTI's fresh intra-party elections. By December 8, at least 14 applications were filed with ECP against PTI's intra-party polls. While hearing the plea, the ECP issued notice to PTI. On these applications, the ECP nullified the polls.
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, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. 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.
According to Dawn report, 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."