ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Saturday questioned the PTI about seeking a level playing field, particularly in light of reservations communicated by its own members about the lack of one in the party.
“You ask for a level playing field, you must also give one to your members,” Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar remarked.
Addressing Barrister Zafar, the SC judge said that the ECP didn’t take action on its own but sprung to action after receiving complaints on PTI’s intra-party polls. He also asked if the party’s polls were transparent and whether it was clear who could or could not contest the election.
The SC judge’s remarks came during the hearing of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) plea challenging the Peshawar High Court verdict restoring the PTI’s electoral symbol.
The hearing is being conducted by a three-member bench, headed by CJP Isa and consisting Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarat Hilali.
Barrister Ali Zafar is representing the PTI in the case at the SC, while Makhdoom Ali Khan is ECP’s counsel.
The commission was dissatisfied with PHC’s order on Thursday and challenged the decision in the apex court, seeking its revocation. The PTI, subsequently, filed a plea in the PHC against Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and other ECP members for not following up on the PHC’s order.
While responding to Justice Mazhar’s comments, Zafar said: “Election Commission has not identified any such irregularity. I will answer all questions with documents.”
Earlier, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that it isn’t enough to level allegations at the ECP on social media or media and that the electoral body said it had sent a show-cause notice to the party pertaining to intra-party polls in the past, while the PTI was still in the government. But the party had then failed to conduct the polls citing different reasons.
“The Election Commission took notice of PTI when it was in government,” he remarked.
“Was the Election Commission an independent constitutional body in your government, which has now become subordinate to someone?” he asked the PTI counsel.
The chief justice, during the hearing, remarked that the court will not talk about the Election Act since it hasn’t been challenged.
Barrister Zafar said the PTI is not challenging the Election Act.
At the hearing’s outset, Justice Mazhar asked the PTI lawyer two questions. The first one regarding the jurisdiction of the court and the second was about the ECP’s authority to investigate intra-party elections.
Barrister Zafar told the court he will assist them on the matter, but reminded the SC that it is the last date for allotment of final lists and election symbols, hinting the bench to expedite the case.
The lawyer then told the court that the Constitution doesn’t allow the electoral authority to review intra-party polls and that the electoral symbol cannot be withheld due to these elections.
“Depriving a political party of its election symbol on the basis of intra-party elections is a violation of Article 17-2,” Barrister Zafar added, accusing the ECP of discriminating against the PTI.
He further argued that the electoral body has apparently “acted maliciously” by taking away the bat symbol. “The Election Commission is not a court of law that can give a fair trial.”
The lawyer claimed no PTI member has challenged the intra-party elections.
“Even if the polls were challenged, it becomes a civil court matter. The Election Commission does not have the suo motu powers.”
If the ECP orders, he added, are arbitrary and contrary to facts, the court possesses the power of judicial review. “The Election Commission’s decision is inconsistent with Article 10-A, as no such trial took place.”
Detailing the PTI’s previous intra-party elections, the lawyer said that the party held its first election on June 8, 2022. The ECP, he added, termed those elections wrong and ordered a reelection in 20 days on October 23.
Barrister Zafar argued that the ECP’s orders came after the SC verdict on conducting polls on February 8, 2024.
Bat symbol saga
The election commission, on December 22, barred the PTI party from keeping its “bat” symbol for the upcoming February elections, citing irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party’s own constitution and election laws.
Following the ECP’s decision to revoke their symbol, the PTI challenged it in the PHC. A single-member judge granted temporary relief, reinstated the bat symbol, and referred the case to a larger bench for a hearing on January 9.
Then, on December 30, the polling body challenged the PHC’s jurisdiction over the matter. However, in a dramatic turn of events, the PHC reversed its earlier decision and upheld the ECP’s order.
Facing the prospect of losing its iconic cricket bat symbol for the upcoming elections, the PTI took its fight to the highest court in the land — the Supreme Court. However, in a strategic move, they later withdrew their appeal, hoping for a favourable outcome from the PHC.
And the PTI did get what it wanted. The PHC Wednesday declared the commission’s order “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”. However, the ECP challenged it decision in the country’s top court.
