LHC forms three-judge bench on PTI bat symbol petition

The Lahore High Court has formed a three-member bench to hear a petition seeking the return of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's bat election symbol and challenging Section 215 of the Elections Act 2017.

Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh heads the bench. Justice Malik Waqar Haider Awan and Justice Malik Javed Iqbal Vaince sit on it, UrduPoint reported. Pakistan Observer spelled the third judge's name as Justice Malik Javed Iqbal Wains and reported that the bench was constituted on Friday.

The petition asks the court to decide whether Section 215 is consistent with Article 17 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to form and join a political party. The petitioner's case is that a legal restriction touching a party's fundamental rights requires constitutional review.

According to the petition, depriving a party of its election symbol is not an administrative or procedural matter. The symbol decides whether a party can contest elections and hold on to its representation, and losing it seriously affects the party's political existence and the democratic rights of its members, the petition argues.

The plea also raises the question of how far Parliament can go in setting conditions that affect a party's participation in elections. It asks the bench to weigh Section 215 against the protections Article 17 gives to parties and their members.

Both reports said the case had been listed for hearing on November 12, 2026. Forming the larger bench puts the constitutional questions before three judges instead of one.

The bench is expected to take up the petitioner's arguments on the validity of the contested provision and on PTI's demand for the restoration of its bat symbol. Neither report named the petitioner, and neither gave a date for the next hearing.

Section 215 sits in the Elections Act 2017, the law under which the Election Commission of Pakistan conducts elections and allocates party symbols. The petition does not challenge the section's administrative mechanics, but its constitutional footing.

PTI's case before the high court rests on the argument that the party system itself is a constitutional institution under Article 17, and that a law which can strip a party of its symbol reaches into that protected ground. The court will decide whether the section survives that test, is read down, or falls.