The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) removed the iconic symbol ‘bat’ from PTI’s list, confusing the voters. This has impacted Imran Khan’s political career, increased costs for campaign material production, and the party’s registered status. Independent candidates may win, potentially changing the prime minister contest.
Electoral symbols are handed out by the Election Commission to the political leaders for the identification of their party during the election. The symbol appears on the ballot paper along with the political party and candidate’s name. These symbols play a vital role in the electoral process as they help the illiterate population to identify the political party or the independent candidate. Symbols are the souls of elections.
Pakistan is having general elections on February 8. All the popular parties like PML (N), PPP, and MQM have their long-held symbols but for PTI case is not the same this time. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) destitute PTI’s iconic symbol ‘bat” on the technical grounds that PTI did not hold intra-party elections under the law. The party challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court but the Supreme Court continued the same order.
All the candidates from PTI have been given separate symbols from the independent symbol list. This will lead to confusion for the voters. Though the party selected the symbol of the ‘batsman’, most candidates were assigned separate symbols. Imran Khan has already been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail for corruption. It is believed that by depriving the party’s iconic symbol, PTI will not get its fair share in national and provincial assemblies. PTI will be ineligible to claim its reserved proportion of women and minorities. It is a real setback for the party.
In the coming days, it will be seen that many independent candidates may win the election because the majority of PTI is fighting as independent candidates. Independents in politics face a complex landscape where alliances and support can impact their chances of success. They may see an opportunity to revive their careers by winning the upcoming election and joining a winning party or alliance. If 10-15% of national assembly seats are won by independent candidates, it could change the prime minister contest and potentially be used as leverage by certain parties. Independents are expected to play a significant role in the election process this time.
The loss of the electoral symbol has added to Imran Khan’s tribulations who is already facing legal issues and no longer has a single electoral symbol to rally behind. Each of his hundreds of candidates has been given separate symbols from the independent symbol list, confusing voters and extra costs for producing campaign material. Khan’s party has also lost its registered status from the election commission, which means preventing his candidates’ bloc from being eligible for reserved seats. With restrictions on political and electoral freedom and the sheer absence of fairness when it comes to a political party that largely enjoys public support (a majority being the youth), would a free and fair election remain a distant dream for Pakistan? The time will tell.
