Following the supreme court of Pakitan’s decision on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) iconic ‘bat’ symbol, the party leaders dispersed across an electoral map with varied symbols, as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has assigned different electoral symbols to them.
The party, led by Imran Khan, experienced a setback when the Supreme Court nullified the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict and upheld the ECP’s plea to declare PTI’s intra-party actions “unconstitutional.” Just weeks before the February 8 polls, the ruling resulted in PTI losing its electoral symbol. In Pakistan, a country with a substantial rural population and varying literacy levels, a party’s symbol on the ballot is crucial for voter recognition.
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa announced this pivotal ruling during a late-night live broadcast on the top court’s website.
Diverse Symbols for PTI Candidates
Following the court’s verdict, PTI members will now contest the elections as independent candidates, each with a unique symbol. Notable PTI leaders from Lahore, such as Yasmin Rashid, Salman Akram Raja, Latif Khosa, and Mian Azhar, have been assigned symbols like ‘laptop’, ‘racquet’, the letter ‘K’, and ‘wicket’ respectively.
In Multan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s children, Mehr Bano Qureshi and Zain Hussain Qureshi will compete with the symbols ‘tongs’ and ‘shoe’ for their respective constituencies. Other candidates like Umair Niazi and Shoaib Shaheen have been assigned symbols like ‘door’ and ‘shoe’ for their constituencies in Mianwali and Islamabad.
Moreover, Shandana Gulzar and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan will represent their constituencies with the symbols ‘bowl’ and ‘kettle’. Jamshed Dasti, contesting in Muzaffargarh, has been allotted ‘harmonium’ and ‘aeroplane’ for his two National Assembly seats.
Other political parties, such as PMLN, PPPP, JI, PTI-Nazariati, IPP, MQM-P, and TLP, have been allotted recognizable symbols like ‘lion’, ‘arrow’, ‘scale’, ‘batsman’, ‘eagle’, ‘kite’, and ‘crane’ respectively. The last date for the allotment of electoral symbols for the February 8 general elections was January 13, marking a crucial step in the electoral process.
