Barrister Gohar announces to challenge ECP decision to a high court

Terming it as a “plot” against the erstwhile ruling party, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the former chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced on Friday that they would challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to revoke the party’s signature election symbol, the ‘bat,’ by approaching a high court.

The ECP, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, had earlier declared PTI’s intra-party elections as unlawful in its reserved verdict, resulting in the withdrawal of the party’s election symbol.

Speaking to a private TV channel, Barrister Gohar expressed his party’s longstanding concerns about the ECP, accusing the electoral watchdog of exclusively focusing on his party’s matters without monitoring other parties.

He emphasized that the PTI had conducted intra-party elections in compliance with the party’s law and constitution, challenging the ECP to specify which law or section of the constitution had been violated during PTI’s intra-party polls.

According to Gohar, the ECP’s decision was politically motivated and influenced by personal biases, alleging that the intra-party polls were conducted within the legal framework.

Gohar criticized the ECP for not addressing the PTI’s queries in its response filed in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

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He questioned which section of the Elections Act 2017 was violated by his party. He asserted that the decision to withdraw the ‘bat’ symbol was a conspiracy aimed at confusing PTI’s supporters and candidates during the upcoming general elections.

Responding to allegations of bias, Gohar pointed out that the Supreme Court had issued an order regarding the foreign funding case involving all political parties.

While recovery proceedings were initiated against the PTI, he claimed that other political parties were overlooked by the authorities, indicating a biased approach by the ECP. Gohar stated that all these circumstances spoke for themselves.

Regarding the upcoming elections, Gohar mentioned that the PTI had a “Plan B” in place and dismissed the possibility of his party boycotting the election.