The Peshawar High Court has finally allowed the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf to get back its bat symbol, by striking down the Election Commission of Pakistan decision against its intraparty polls. The PHC, while accepting the PTI appeal, had earlier passed an interim order restoring the symbol, but that successfully appealed against. However, now that the main petition as been decided, the bat is back. The stage is now set for the ECP to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, or to let things slide, leaving the PTI to award tickets to its candidates., because the last date for allocation of symbols is just two days away. Also of relevance is the last date for withdrawal of candidature, which is just a day away, on which covering candidates are supposed to pull out. Though their names may remain on the ballot, they usually do not draw away more than a few score votes. However, if a party does not have the all-important symbol, there will be greater problems if a covering candidate remains on the ballet.
While the PHC verdict was certainly good news for PTI supporters, other reports from the courts have not been so encouraging. The drive to get party ex-chief Imran Khan, still its main votegetter, convicted under the Official Secrets Act, seems to have fizzled out after he got bail in the case fromm the Supreme Court, but his arrest by the Rawalpindi police for the May 9 attacks, particularly the one on GHQ, immediately succeeded, ensuring that he would continue to remain in Adiala Jail. There are also two NAB cases. One was the Toshakhana reference, in which he and his wife Bushra Bibi were indicted by the Anti-Corruption court sitting inside the jail. The other was the £190 million Al-Qadir reference, another case in which he can be kept locked up, in which co-accused Zulfi Bukhari and Shehzad Akbar had their properties and accounts seized.
Mr Khan’s nomination papers have been rejected, but it seems that he is not be allowed to come on to the campaign trail. It is not to be ignored that his main opponent, Mian Nawaz Sharif of the PML(N), is not on the campaign trail either, being busy with ticket disputes. The PTI’s dire straits can be seen from the fact that with its leader disqualified and its organization shattered by May 9 desertions, it will see the retention of its symbol, which other parties regard as a given, as a victory.
