PESHAWAR  -   Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) counsel Barrister Ali Zafar Tuesday told the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that his party’s elections were conducted according to the Constitution.

Barrister Zafar gave these remarks during hearing of PTI’s writ petition challenging the ECP decision declaring the intra-party election as null and void and revoking their symbol ‘bat’.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Arshad Ali, conducted the hearing today in PHC.

“We conducted party elections according to the Constitution,” Barrister Zafar told the bench.

The ECP, he added, declared the party’s elections null and void and asked to hold the election again in 20 days. The lawyer maintained that the party abided by the electoral body’s decision and also provided Form 65. The court asked why the PTI was insisting on securing the bat as its electoral symbol for the upcoming elections on February 8.

The PTI lawyer said that the electoral symbol issued to a certain party will not be given to others. 

He added that PTI will not be able to partake in the polls if a certificate is not issued to them. He also mentioned a Supreme Court judgment pertaining to the election symbol.

The court asked him to submit a copy of the apex court’s judgment. 

Barrister Zafar also maintained that the ECP doesn’t have the authority to issue a ban on intra- party elections and cannot question the internal appointments of political parties. “The PHC can look into the internal appointments of political parties,” he said. Justice Ijaz Anwar, however, said even the high court has no authority to look into internal appointments of political parties. ECP, Barrister Zafar added, is a constitutional body but not a court.

“There are several judgments in which it has been said that the Election Commission is not a court of law,” Ali Zafar said. He earlier informed the court that no objection has been raised on the process of December 2 intra-party elections. “The Election Commission does not have the authority to declare intra-party elections null and void. Even if the intra-party elections are not held, they cannot take election symbols,” the PTI counsel insisted. Justice Arshad asked the PTI lawyer if there was any opposition candidate for the chairmanship in the intra-party election. The lawyer replied in the negative. “PTI is being openly discriminated against,” he said while completing his arguments after which the court adjourned the hearing of the case for 30 minutes.