Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa emphasised on Friday that democracy is a fundamental right, a principle that should be present not only in the structure of a nation but also within the fabric of political parties.

“Every citizen has a fundamental right to vote for a political party of its choice and every political party member has the same right too,” he remarked, adding that if this right was snatched then there would be “dictatorship on the national and local levels”.

The observations came as a three-member Supreme Court bench – comprising the CJP, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali – took up the ECP’s petition challenging the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) decision to restore the PTI’s iconic ‘bat’ election symbol. The proceedings were broadcast live on the apex court’s website.

Earlier in the day, CJP Isa said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is a constitutional body and no one can interfere in its domain.

A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Musarrat Hilali, was hearing the case.

On Wednesday, the PHC declared as unconstitutional the ECP decision to revoke the PTI’s bat electoral symbol and reject its intra-party polls. The ECP approached the SC on Thursday against the PHC decision.

The high court directed the ECP to hand the PTI its electoral symbol back. The court also directed the body to upload the party’s certificate of internal elections on its website.

However, in its petition to the SC, the electoral watchdog contended that the high court’s decision violated the Constitution and the law.

PTI’s intra-party elections, in which Barrister Gohar was elected as chairman of the party after being nominated by PTI founder and former chairman Imran Khan, were held on December 2 on directives issued by the electoral body.

However, the polls drew sharp criticism as estranged PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar announced that he would challenge the entire process.

Babar alleged that PTI had carried out a selection process aimed at throwing out party workers to give the reins to a few lawyers.

On December 22, the electoral body nullified PTI’s intra-party elections, declaring that the party was ineligible for obtaining its traditional electoral symbol of ‘bat’.