The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has announced that it will challenge the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to declare its intra-party polls as unconstitutional and revoke the iconic ‘cricket bat’ symbol in the Peshawar High Court. The legal battle comes after the ECP rejected the organisational elections of Khan’s party and its plea to have a cricket bat as the electoral symbol for the upcoming general elections. This decision has resulted in the party being declared ineligible to obtain an election symbol.

PTI lawyer and central information secretary Mohammad Muazzam Butt stated that the party will file a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court on December 26, claiming the ECP’s verdict was a "legally flawed decision" and that the commission had failed to serve justice in its order. The electoral watchdog declared void for the second time in less than a month the PTI’s internal elections in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the party’s new chairman. As a result of this decision, Gohar Khan, a close aide of Khan, 71, lost his position as chairman of PTI.

Khan, a former iconic international cricketer, is currently facing multiple cases and is lodged in Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi. The PTI has strongly criticized the ECP’s decision, calling it part of the "famous London Plan" and a "disgusting and shameful attempt to stop the party from participating in the election." Despite this setback, the party has vowed to appeal the decision at every forum and maintain that its candidates will contest the polls with the ‘bat’ symbol, come what may.

The decision by the ECP has sparked controversy and criticism, with experts and PTI supporters claiming that the poll watchdog's decision was influenced by malicious intent and an attempt to keep the party away from the upcoming elections. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) head Ahmed Bilal Mehboob suggested that the PTI should have been more careful about its intra-party polls, while also criticizing the Election Commission for being soft on many other issues. Overall, the legal battle between PTI and the ECP is set to escalate in the coming days, with the future of the party’s participation in the upcoming general elections hanging in the balance.