{"id":48107,"date":"2024-01-15T09:02:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T09:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/pti-withdraws-plea-seeking-contempt-proceedings-against-electoral-watchdog-from-sc\/"},"modified":"2024-01-15T09:02:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T09:02:05","slug":"pti-withdraws-plea-seeking-contempt-proceedings-against-electoral-watchdog-from-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pti-withdraws-plea-seeking-contempt-proceedings-against-electoral-watchdog-from-sc\/","title":{"rendered":"PTI withdraws plea seeking contempt proceedings against electoral watchdog from SC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>The PTI on Monday withdrew its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1801010\/pti-moves-contempt-petition-against-ecp-in-apex-court\">plea<\/a> seeking contempt proceedings against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly not implementing the Supreme Court\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799936\">orders<\/a> of providing the party with a level playing field for the upcoming general elections.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes as the party has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805488\">stripped<\/a> of its iconic \u2018bat\u2019 symbol after the apex court upheld the electoral watchdog\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1800094\">Dec 22 decision<\/a> of declaring the PTI\u2019s intra-party polls \u201cunconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1805562\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As a result, its members will now be contesting the elections as independent candidates with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805937\/pti-banks-on-social-media-to-make-up-for-bat-loss\">different<\/a> electoral symbols and the party no longer has the right to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805894\/121-declared-eligible-for-reserved-seats-of-assemblies-from-kp\">reserved seats<\/a> for women and minorities.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec 26, the PTI had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1801010\/pti-moves-contempt-petition-against-ecp-in-apex-court\">filed<\/a> a contempt plea before the SC, alleging that the ECP had not complied with the court\u2019s orders, wherein it had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799936\">directed<\/a> the ECP to address its grievances on an urgent basis to ensure that the electoral process remained \u201csmooth, open, transparent, free and fair\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>In its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1803898\">response<\/a> 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\u2019s allegations of a lack of level playing field in the run-up to polls.<\/p>\n<p>During the previous hearing, CJP Isa had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1804128\">told<\/a> PTI leader and lawyer Latif Khosa to refrain from making allegations against the ECP unless the claims could be backed up by proof.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cno expectations from the ECP\u201d and was \u201cgoing to the public\u201d. Subsequently, the SC disposed of the plea on the basis of the withdrawal.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"the-hearing\" href=\"#the-hearing\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>The hearing<\/h2>\n<p>During today\u2019s hearing, CJP Isa recalled that the court had issued directives to the state when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805758\">incident<\/a> of a police raid on PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan\u2019s house emerged. He further said that despite asking the PTI chief to write a letter in case he was not satisfied with the police inquiry, no such response had been submitted yet.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the top judge,  Khosa said, \u201cWe ran a movement for your sake, sacrificed our blood. If a difficult time arrives even today, we are ready to sacrifice our lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe came seeking a level playing field but you took away the \u2018field\u2019 itself. You announced a verdict at 11:30pm on January 13 that scattered the PTI and took away 230 [reserved] seats,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Justice Isa recalled that the court had repeatedly asked the PTI lawyers to show documental evidence of the intra-party polls, adding that the SC had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1786006\">ordered<\/a> for the general elections to not be delayed on a PTI plea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur job is to hold the polls as per the law,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not make the law [but] have it implemented. If you do not like the law, then change it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Here, Khosa argued that the Awami National Party\u2019s (ANP) electoral symbol had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805671\/without-holding-intra-party-polls-anp-gets-lantern\">restored<\/a> last week without holding the intra-party polls, asking, \u201cWhy was the PTI not given [its symbol]?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The chief justice responded that it emerged recently that the ANP had time left to conduct its intra-party polls according to its party constitution, hence it was given its symbol back. \u201cKhosa <em>sahib<\/em>, this is not the right manner. You are a senior lawyer. You are damaging all institutions of Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow how can we expect that we will get a level playing field? We now want to go before the court of 250m people. We have no expectations from the election commission,\u201d Khosa said.<\/p>\n<p>Here, CJP Isa said, \u201cIf you want to accept the court order, do so. If you do not want to, don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>The PTI leader said that as a result of losing the party symbol, its candidates would now have to contest the elections independently and be confused due to the different symbols.<\/p>\n<p>At this point during the hearing, Justice Hilali asked Khosa, \u201cDo you think that the elections are not transparent?\u201d to which the lawyer replied that they were \u201ccompletely unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The top judge said, \u201cThe court can give orders but not become the government.\u201d He also told the PTI lawyer to file a petition if they had objections on the intra-party polls of another political party.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Hilali then asked the ECP officials, if the electoral watchdog was unfair. \u201cWhy are you running after one political party? Why cannot see other political parties?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge then inquired Khosa about an alliance the PTI had made, to which the leader replied, \u201cThis is what I am telling you that we were not even allowed to form an alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe chief of the party with which we allied was picked up and made to hold a press conference,\u201d Khosa alleged, referring to PTI-Nazriati Chairman Akbar Iqbal Dar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1805534\">denying<\/a> allowing PTI leaders to contest the polls on its \u2018batsman\u2019 symbol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreparations are being made to register cases against us for forming an alliance. Your [SC\u2019s] verdict has expelled us from parliamentary politics,\u201d the PTI counsel said.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"sc-verdict-black-day-for-democracy-latif-khosa\" href=\"#sc-verdict-black-day-for-democracy-latif-khosa\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>SC verdict \u2018black day for democracy\u2019: Latif Khosa<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking outside the apex court, Khosa lamented that the SC\u2019s verdict of upholding the ECP decision had \u201cdestroyed democracy\u201d, terming it a \u201cblack day for democracy\u201d. He added it was \u201cequivalent to depriving the 25 million Pakistanis of their right of franchise\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  w-full  w-full  media--stretch  media--embed  \">\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"\ud83d\udd34LIVE | PTI Leader Latif Khosa Talks To Media | Dawn News Live\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RNdu7_nDF1w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He recalled incidents of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/amp\/1805626\">arrests<\/a> as well as those where nomination papers of PTI candidates were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1799807\">snatched<\/a>. 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 \u201cno unpleasant\u201d events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat can be a bigger joke than my son being arrested from outside my office as he was also a candidate and the [Lahore] High Court\u2019s Justice Baqar Najafi <em>sahib<\/em> observed that he was arrested in relation to the elections and was based on mala fide,\u201d the PTI leader said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1804807\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He added that when he had urged Justice Isa to see the affidavits and CDs attached as evidence of such incidents, he had replied \u201cno, not right now\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about the electoral symbol saga, Khosa asserted that the PTI held its intra-party polls according to its party constitution within the 20-day period the ECP had given it. Referring to the petitioners who had challenged the intra-party elections, he said, \u201cThose 13 people lied [as if] they are representing our 20-25 million members. They are not even PTI members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan Akbar S. Babar compete with Imran Khan? He cannot even compete with an ordinary party worker. [\u2026] Tell me, has any candidate come forward against Bilawal, Asif Ali Zardari [or] Nawaz Sharif? You can see all parties,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>More to follow<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The PTI on Monday withdrew its plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly not implementing the Supreme Court\u2019s 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 \u2018bat\u2019 symbol after the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/151231035f023f4.png?r=123847","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}