ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allocated election symbols to 150 political parties for the upcoming general election. Notably, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was absent from the list of parties posted on the ECP website.
In the provided list, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) has been assigned the ‘tiger’ symbol, Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians the ‘arrow’, Pakistan Peoples Party the ‘sword’, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Nazriati the ‘batsman’, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party the ‘eagle’, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan the ‘kite’, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl the ‘book’, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan the ‘scale’, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians the ‘turban’, Balochistan National Party the ‘axe’, Awami National Party the ‘lantern’, Balochistan National Party Awami the ‘camel’, and Balochistan Awami Party the ‘cow’.
On Saturday, the ECP issued an order to returning officers, instructing them not to allocate a poll symbol to any candidate affiliated with another party. The commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, emphasized that candidates belonging to one party should not be given the symbol of another political party.
The ECP had already dispatched 177 symbols for independent candidates. In the Islamabad Capital Territory, returning officers assigned electoral symbols to candidates, with a total of 119 candidates receiving symbols for three NA constituencies.
According to returning officers’ statistics, NA-46 will witness 44 candidates, including 29 independents, and representatives from 16 political parties. A transgender candidate in this constituency is contesting with the symbol of a ‘green chilli’.
In NA-47, 37 candidates will compete, comprising 25 independents and 12 from various political parties. Notably, independent candidate Chaudhry Ilyas Meherban in NA-47 was assigned the ‘battery’ symbol, while Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar will contest with the ‘clock’ symbol.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
