ECP indecisive about challenging PHC order

Decides to approach top court against order suspending notification of an RO

PAKISTAN:

 On Wednesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) could not reach a consensus on challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order, which suspended the polls supervisory authority’s decision invalidating the PTI’s intra-party polls. The ECP plans to revisit the matter today (Thursday).

On December 22, the polls authority declared the PTI’s party elections null, revoking the former ruling party's iconic election symbol—a cricket bat. The ECP had taken notice of the PTI’s intra-party polls, wherein Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the party’s new chairman.

Conducted on December 2, these polls followed the ECP's nullification of intra-party polls held in June 2022. The ECP had granted the PTI a 20-day window to conduct fresh elections or risk losing eligibility for the poll symbol.

On December 26, the PTI sought relief from the PHC, resulting in the suspension of the ECP's order. The court instructed the commission to publish the PTI’s certificate on its website and reinstate the party’s electoral symbol.

"As elections are scheduled to be held on 8th February, 2024 and last date for allotment of election symbols is 13th January, 2024, so keeping in view the urgency that a political party has been denuded of its symbol, meaning thereby that aspirants from the general public who were willing to vote for the petitioners' party were divested of their right to vote as per their choice,” it added.

On Wednesday, the ECP resolved to challenge the PHC's order that suspended the appointment of Irfan Ullah as the returning officer (RO) for the PK-91 Kohat II constituency.

Following this order, the constituency currently lacks an RO. This situation poses an increasingly challenging scenario for the ECP in organizing elections in the area.