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The PTI on Monday withdrew its plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly not implementing the Supreme Court’s orders of providing the party with a level playing field for the upcoming general elections.
The move comes as the party has been stripped of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol after the apex court upheld the electoral watchdog’s Dec 22 decision of declaring the PTI’s intra-party polls “unconstitutional”
As a result, its members will now be contesting the elections as independent candidates with different electoral symbols and the party no longer has the right to reserved seats for women and minorities.
On Dec 26, the PTI had filed a contempt plea before the SC, alleging that the ECP had not complied with the court’s orders, wherein it had directed the ECP to address its grievances on an urgent basis to ensure that the electoral process remained “smooth, open, transparent, free and fair”.
The case was being heard by a three-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali.
In its response to the top court, the election commission on January 7 had said that 76 per cent of the nomination papers filed by PTI candidates for the upcoming elections had been accepted, negating the party’s allegations of a lack of level playing field in the run-up to polls.
During the previous hearing, CJP Isa had told PTI leader and lawyer Latif Khosa to refrain from making allegations against the ECP unless the claims could be backed up by proof.
However, as the apex court resumed hearing the contempt plea today, the PTI informed the court that it was withdrawing its petitions, saying that the party had “no expectations from the ECP” and was “going to the public”. Subsequently, the SC disposed of the plea on the basis of the withdrawal.
Speaking outside the apex court, Khosa lamented that the SC’s verdict of upholding the ECP decision had “destroyed democracy” and was “equivalent to depriving the 25 million Pakistanis of their right of franchise”.
He recalled incidents of arrests as well as those where nomination papers of PTI candidates were snatched. The PTI leader said that in his response to the SC, the Islamabad police chief had denied those incidents and asserted that there had been “no unpleasant” events.
More to follow
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