On Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Peshawar High Court's (PHC) decision allowing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to retain its electoral symbol, the 'bat'. The ECP, in its plea, has urged the apex court to overturn the PHC verdict, citing it as unconstitutional.

The decision to appeal was made after a consultative meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. Following the meeting, the ECP's legal team initiated the preparation of the petition for submission to the Supreme Court.

In a related development, the caretaker information minister held a meeting with election commission officials, attended by four commission members and the ECP legal team.

Earlier, the PTI regained the 'bat' symbol after the PHC nullified the ECP's order, which had revoked the party's use of the 'bat' symbol. PTI had challenged the ECP's decision in the PHC, resulting in a verdict allowing the party to contest elections with the 'bat' symbol. The PHC also directed the electoral body to upload the PTI's certificate on its website.

On January 3, the PHC had revoked the stay order, reinstating the ECP's decision to declare PTI's intra-party polls null and void and strip it of the 'bat' symbol. The decision was made by a single-member bench comprising Justice Ejaz Khan in response to a review plea filed by the ECP against the December 26 single-member bench order.