The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allotted symbols to the candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) contesting polls as independent candidates after the Supreme Court annulled the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) January 10 order.
In a late-night decision, the Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the Dec 22 decision of the ECP depriving the PTI of its iconic poll symbol — ‘bat’.
A three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali — announced the verdict after a day-long hearing.
The decision was announced minutes before the expiry of the fifth extended deadline by the election watchdog for the intending candidates for the submission of party tickets. Following the verdict, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar said that all party candidates would contest elections independently. Here’s the list of symbols allotted to PTI candidates:
- Barrister Gohar Ali Khan: “teapot”
- Shaukat Yousafzai: “racket”
- Shahryar Afridi: “bottle”
- Shandana Gulzar: “bowl”
- Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s children Mehr Bano Qureshi and Zain Hussain Qureshi: “chimta (tongs)” for NA-151 and “shoe” for NA-150 constituencies of Multan, respectively
- Umair Niazi: “door” on Mianwali’s NA-90 seat
- Shoaib Shaheen: “shoe” to contest elections in Islamabad’s NA-46 constituency
- Jamshed Dasti: “harmonium” for NA-175 seat and “aeroplane” for NA-176
- Maqsood Khan Jatoi: “Hookah” in NA-177
- Daud Khan Jatoi: “keychain” in NA-178
- Shairam Tarkai: “dove” in PA-20
- Rangzeb Khan: “dove” in PK-49
- Aqibullah Khan: “peacock” in PK-50
- Abdul Karim: “kettle” in PK-51
What is the significance of electoral symbols?
An electoral symbol is a standardized symbol allocated to an independent candidate or political party by a country’s election commission for use in election ballots
The symbols are used by parties in their campaigning and printed on ballot papers where a voter must make a mark to vote for the associated party. One of their purposes is to facilitate voting by illiterate people, who cannot read candidates’ names on ballot papers
The symbols can include easily identifiable real-world creatures, objects, or items, such as donkeys and elephants in the United States
In India, electoral symbols are assigned by the Election Commission of India, consisting of items visualizing the party’s ideology and position.
A symbol assigned to a party designated as a national party cannot be used by other parties in the country. A symbol assigned to a state party in one state can be allocated to a different state party in another state
A similar system is used in Pakistan, where parties and candidates must be identified via one of the symbols approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan, such as the Pakistan People’s Party arrow, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) tiger, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf cricket bat (in reference to party founder Imran Khan being a retired player).