ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has withheld election symbols of 18 out of the total of 161 political parties, having allotted symbols primarily due to their inability to hold mandatory intra-party polls or submit their annual statements of accounts.
Under Sections 209 and 2010, a political party is required to annually submit its statement of accounts and sources of funds, as well as details of intra-party elections, within seven days after these are conducted.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is also among those parties whose intra-party elections are yet to be recognised or otherwise. However, surprisingly, there is no mention of PTI in the list of those parties whose symbols have been withheld.
“Bat” has been PTI’s election symbol prior to its intra-party electoral process that landed at the electoral body well before the 2024 general elections, which it had to contest by fielding candidates as independents. This symbol is also not included in the list of 161 allotted symbols. Similarly, there is no sign of it in the list of 164 symbols which, according to the ECP website, are available for independent candidates.
Although “Cricket Stumps” is available in the list for independent candidates, the “Bat” symbol is missing from the ECP list. The fate of PTI’s intra-party elections has been pending before the Election Commission since March 2024, and the matter is also before the Lahore High Court. Even long before the last general elections, its intra-party elections had been set aside by the Election Commission, having been conducted not in accordance with its constitution.
When contacted, a senior official at the Election Commission gave no specific reason why “Bat” was not listed on the ECP website. “There is no reason, and if and when PTI’s intra-party elections are certified, then, as per the law, it will apply for the allotment of an election symbol, and it can be the same symbol on which it fought elections in the past,” he remarked.
The parties whose election symbols have been withheld include Pak League, Awam Pakistan, Istehkam Pakistan Tehreek, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Such, Pakistan Kidmat-e-Khaliq League, Pakistan Aadmi Movement, Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party, Pakistan People’s Alliance Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Etihad, Awami Tehreek-e-Ilm Party, Pakistan Reform Party, Awami Jamhoori Pakistan and Jadeed Awami Party.
