ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Friday alleged that conspiracies were being hatched to snatch its iconic election symbol ‘bat’ and exclude the party from the upcoming general elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the PTI have been at odds over the past few days. The controversy stems from the electoral watchdog’s earlier decision to strip PTI of its election symbol ‘bat’ following the annulment of its intraparty elections for not complying with the Elections Act and the party’s own constitution.
On Tuesday last, the Peshawar High Court had suspended the ECP’s decision and directed it to publish the certificate of PTI’s intra-party polls on its website “keeping in view the urgency, that a political party has been denuded of its symbol, meaning hereby that aspirants from the general public who are willing to vote for the petitioners’ party are divested of their right to vote as per their choice”. On Thursday last, several political leaders including PML-N and JUI-F had criticized the PHC verdict. Shehbaz Sharif and Fazlur Rehman led the chorus.
Addressing a press conference here at the National Press Club yesterday, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said the ‘bat’ was not just the PTI’s election symbol but was also the symbol of the expectations of the people of Pakistan.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that snatching the electoral symbol is equivalent to dissolving a political party and this right only lies with the apex court in Article 17 [of the Constitution],” he said.
He said all the political leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement won’t be able to gain anything on February 8, the polling day. “They will all lose their seats if free, fair and transparent elections are held,” Barrister Gohar claimed and added, “They are trying to take the ‘bat’ away from us.”
The PTI chairman said that he was a representative of Imran, asserting that the former prime minister “was, is and will always remain our leader” irrespective of wherever he is. The PTI Chairman said that the highest number of nomination papers had been filed by PTI candidates. “If you take away our electoral symbol, will all of them contest as independent candidates? If this happens, who will be responsible for horse-trading after the polls?”
He further pointed out that the upcoming polls were the most crucial for the country and derailing them would result in a huge loss for the country.
Barrister Gohar came hard on the former PDM leadership for ‘attacking’ the Peshawar High Court saying they have no right to criticize the verdict. Videos of other political leaders criticising the PHC verdict in the past were also played during the press conference. The PTI chairman alleged that they [PML-N] had attacked the Supreme Court in the past and added now they were attacking the PHC. He asked the judiciary to look into the matter, alleging that conspiracies were being hatched to exclude the PTI from the electoral process. Speaking on the occasion, PTI leader Latif Khosa lamented the favours allegedly being given to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. “We have seen how his nomination papers were accepted […] how is it possible when the SC disqualified him for life?” On the other hand, Khosa added, the nomination papers of none of our candidates were accepted.
