The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on a contempt plea filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for not issuing the party certificate on the Commission’s website, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The PTI had filed a contempt of court petition against the ECP for failing to issue the party certificate despite the court order.

Two-judge PHC bench consisting of Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Justice Waqar Ahmed heard the petition against the poll body on Friday.

As the proceedings were set into motion, lawyers

Qazi Anwar and Shah Faisal Ilyas presented arguments in support of PTI’s plea.

After hearing the arguments, the court issued a notice to the ECP, directing it to submit a response at the next hearing scheduled for January 16.

Earlier, the PHC had declared “illegal” the ECP's decision to revoke the PTI’s electoral symbol – bat – and reject party’s intra-party polls.

In a short order, the PHC had maintained that the ECP order was “illegal, without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”.

The court had also ordered the ECP to publish the certificate submitted by the PTI after its internal polls on the commission's website.

Reporter Amir Shahzad