The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday declared that the petition filed to seek restoration of “bat” as the PTI party symbol was unmaintainable, a day after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) reversed the orders passed by a single member bench. On Wednesday, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had accepted a review plea filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), restoring the December 22 orders under which the PTI was deprived of its party symbol. Thus, the top provincial court nullified the single-bench’s December 26 verdict, which had suspended the ECP decision till January 9, enabling the PTI to use its party symbol. Earlier, as a local lawyer moved the LHC to get the “bat” secured, the single-member bench on Wednesday had reserved its judgment on the issue. The announcement was made by Justice Jawad Hassan who had earlier stated that the judgment would be delivered today (Tuesday). “[I] will announce the verdict today [Wednesday]. My decision would be seen as judicial precedent.

[Just] wait for it,” Justice Hassan remarked. During the hearing, the judge noted the Supreme Court had already affirmed that there shouldn’t be any interference in matters related to elections [at the high court level]. The Tehreek-e-Insaf should establish a research wing to file cases after a detailed study, he remarked. At the same time, the federal government representative opposed the petition, calling it unmaintainable. The petitioner wasn’t an affected party, as the plea had been filed by the lawyer in personal capacity, he added. Moreover, the law officer said that the federal government wasn’t made a party in the petition while the Supreme Court had clearly warned against interference in election process. On the other hand, the petitioner, who is a PTI member, argued that the PHC had issued a stay order to cancel the orders passed by the ECP [till Jan 9], meaning that the PTI would have “bat” as party symbol in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but not in Punjab.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)