The court directed the electoral body to decide the fate of the PTI intra-party election and the allocation of the ‘bat’ symbol for the general elections.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan apprised the court that his party would not be allotted a bat as the election symbol if the commission did not accept PTI’s intra-party polls.

The PTI also asked the PHC to direct the ECP to publish the results of its internal elections on the commission’s website – a step required by the party to contest the next general polls.

In the intra-party elections held earlier this month on the ECP’s order, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected the PTI’s new chairman.

Gohar was nominated by Imran Khan – the PTI’s founding chairman, who was currently incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

However, PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, who later developed differences with its leadership, challenged the party’s intra-party polls.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, he requested that the PTI should not be allowed to use the ‘cricket bat’ as its electoral symbol until it held transparent intra-party polls.

He also asked the commission to appoint an independent third-party monitor to conduct the PTI’s fresh intra-party polls.