PTI’s legal missteps under spotlight

Party’s legal minds unable to craft effective plan to acquire them

ISLAMABAD:

Despite having dozens of renowned lawyers, the PTI is failing to evolve flawless strategy in important matters i.e. they could not chalk out an effective plan to receive the reserved seats after the general elections.

Likewise, although there are several reasons to criticise the Supreme Court’s January 13 order that stripped the PTI of its electoral symbol -- the cricket bat, it is also a fact that there were several discrepancies in the manner in which the party conducted its internal polls.

One of the key members of the PTI's legal team conceded that the party had made a mistake by asking its independent MNAs to join the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

The SIC did not provide a party ticket to any candidate, including its head, who contested last month’s general elections as an independent candidate.

However, an internal dissent within the PTI surfaced, with a faction opposing the alliance with the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen.

“Otherwise, that was a better option,” the PTI's legal team member added.

Senior lawyers believe that the PTI should have approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the allocation of the reserved seats without asking their MNAs to join any other party.

If the ECP rejected its plea, the PTI could have escalated the matter to the Supreme Court, which previously declared the party’s internal elections as illegal.

Read also: PTI slams ‘politically motivated’ cases against Imran

Apprehensions over the seat deprivation were voiced by PTI's lawyers before a bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa.

Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii said the crux of what the PTI would now try to say before the SC in the appeal of the Peshawar High Court decision was that the allotment of reserved seats was a constitutional right of a political party that could not be abridged by normal law and rules.

“It will argue this for the SIC," he added.

However, Jaferii believed that the PTI would have had a far stronger case if it had not accepted the stamp of independency for its candidates and positioned itself from the start that it was still a fully functional political party.

“They should have made the most of the SC’s technical knockout which deprived them of their symbol of the bat. The SC did so by sidestepping how the effect of the loss of a symbol would amount to more than just that and mean an impact on the party itself. They [PTI] did this to themselves. This is an inexplicable legal strategy.”

He further said if the PTI had stuck to the position before the ECP that it deserved tickets, the technical issue with the SIC not having even contested the elections and not having submitted the reserved seats lists would never have arisen.

Jaferii continued that the PTI members would have remained bound by party discipline.

“It would have become a simpler challenge to the SC, where the top court would have to contend directly with the clear and dangerous result of its January 13 decision.”

Read: Without 'Bat', PTI shut out of Senate elections

After the PHC’s decision, the PTI is eyeing the SC.

The PTI is planning to move constitutional petition in the apex court against the alleged organised rigging in the general elections.

Now the PHC order will also be challenged in the top court as well.

The composition of the bench will be important in both the cases.

A three-judge committee will decide about the composition of bench in the matter of the alleged rigging.

However, the committee will not approve the bench hearing the PTI’s appeal on the PHC order.

The PTI is also considering seeking the recusal of CJP Isa in matters related to its founding chairman Imran Khan and the party.

It has been learnt that Imran discussed this matter with his party’s lawyers.

Also read: PTI workers face legal action over protests

The SC’s January 13 order has had profound implications for the PTI’s politics.

It is also being witnessed that the PTI's selection of lawyers to plead the party’s cases before the SC was not up to par.

The choice of lawyers is always significant to acquire relief in any constitutional matter.

Usually, political parties and leaders hire lawyers with good reputation among judges.

Ideally, judges should not have a personal liking or disliking, but it is a fact that some lawyers are able to receive a better right to audience from the bench on account of their reputation.

Recently, PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat filed a constitutional petition through Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi seeking a probe into the allegations of polls rigging through the formation of a judicial commission.

Advocate Rahi had challenged the appointment of CJP Isa as the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court during the tenure of former top judge Mian Saqib Nisar.