ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday night accepted the appeal of Election Commission of Pakistan and nullified Peshawar High Court’s decision to restore ‘Bat’ as the election symbol of the PTI.
Before release of the short order, the election commission extended twice the closing timing for submission of symbols by candidates, first to 7pm and then to 10pm and again to 11pm and then to 11:30 pm.
The verdict was at last announced a little before midnight.
In its short order, the court stated that there is no evidence that the PTI held an intra-party election.
Earlier, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Mazhar Muhammad and Justice Musarrat Hilali, had reserved its judgement on an appeal filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan against the verdict of the Peshawar High Court that had restored ‘Bat’ as the election symbol of the PTI.
The chief justice during the proceedings remarked that the ECP was to allocate election symbols to candidates for the Feb 8 elections on Saturday. We also have to write judgement and announce it today keeping in view the time frame for allocations of the symbols by the commission, he added.
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