ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected the intra-party polls of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which was notified as a proscribed organization by the Interior Ministry on terrorism charges last year, declaring it ineligible to obtain an election symbol.
In the written order of the TLP intra-party elections case announced on Monday, a five-member ECP full bench noted that the TLP failed to hold “just and fair” intra-party polls in accordance with the relevant laws.
The bench rejected the TLP’s intra-party polls that were held earlier this month.
In its order, the bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, and comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, Babar Hassan Bharwana and Justice (Retd.)IkramUllah Khan, directed the withdrawal of the TLP’s election symbol.
The order stated that the TLP’s intra-party polls were due in December last year upon the completion of four-year tenure of its previous intra-party elections held in December 2021.
In October 2025, the Interior Ministry notified the TLP as a banned entity on terrorism charges.
It is learnt that despite being banned by the federal government, the TLP’s status as a political party duly enlisted with the ECP would not change unless the prescribed legal process is followed by the government to have the TLP dissolved on the direction of the superior judiciary in accordance with Section 212 of the Elections Act, 2017.
Section 212 provides that where the federal government is satisfied on the basis of a reference from the ECP or information received from any other source that a political party is a foreign-aided political party or has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan or is indulging in terrorism, the government shall, by a notification in the official gazette, make such declaration— within 15 days of making such declaration, the government shall refer the matter to the Supreme Court— and if the SC upholds this declaration, such political party shall stand dissolved forthwith.
“The ECP has no evidence to move a reference against the TLP on the charges of terrorism. So, it’s the government that has to proceed to the top court against the TLP if the government is convinced that this political party is involved in terrorism. Until and unless the court decides against TLP, the latter would continue to be acknowledged as a legitimate political entity by the ECP,” an ECP source told the Business Recorder.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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