Pak court asks EC to re-allocate cricket bat symbol to Imran Khan's party

In a major relief for Imran Khan's party ahead of general elections, a high court on Wednesday declared as unconstitutional the election commission's decision revoking the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party's cricket bat' electoral symbol and rejecting its intra-party polls.

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) also directed the electoral body to allocate the jailed premier's party its iconic bat' electoral symbol back and upload the party's certificate of internal elections on its website, Dawn newspaper reported.

"The PTI is entitled to bat' and should be given the same as its electoral symbol, the court ruled.

The judgement, which was reserved earlier in the day, was announced by a two-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali on a petition jointly filed by PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali and six other leaders requesting the court to declare the ECP order as illegal and without jurisdiction.

On December 22, the Election Commission of Pakistan decided against letting PTI retain its electoral symbol for the February 8 election, saying that it had failed to hold intra-party polls under its prevailing Constitution and election laws.