Ghani wants PTI to retain ‘bat’ symbol in upcoming elections

Karachi Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) President Saeed Ghani has expressed his desire that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) retains its election symbol of ‘bat’ so that the PPP can defeat it in the upcoming polls with its popular electoral sign.

Ghani, who served as the labour minister in the last elected Sindh government, stated this while talking to media persons on Sunday after he had submitted his nomination papers for the PS-105 and NA-237 constituencies of Karachi.

He said he would contest the upcoming polls from one of these two constituencies as per the decision of the PPP’s leadership. He predicted that the PPP would emerge successful in both the constituencies of Karachi.

The PPP leader was of the view that the general elections should be held without any further delay to steer the country out of the current economic and political crises. He said the PPP was the only political party in the country whose election campaign had been continuing in full swing. The PPP had never tried to run away from the polls, he added.

Commenting on the popularity of the PPP in Karachi, he said never before had the PPP received so many applications from prospective candidates who wanted to contest the upcoming polls from Karachi on its ticket.

Ghani said there were up to 40 aspirants desirous of getting the PPP’s ticket for contesting the upcoming elections from a single constituency of the city. He went on to claim that the PPP would emerge as the largest political party in Karachi after the upcoming polls by securing a greater number of votes compared to past record.

He said the PPP was in the process of choosing the most suitable candidates to contest the elections from the city. He informed media persons that at present, more than one candidates of the PPP were submitting nomination papers for a single constituency.

Answering a question, the Karachi PPP president said the Election Commission of Pakistan should not have announced an adverse verdict on the issue of the election symbol of the PTI. He, however, added that it should be checked whether the intra-party polls conducted by the PTI were proper or not.

Every political party should get a fair chance to contest the upcoming elections, said Ghani. He said that rigging was the reason for the defeat of the PPP in the constituencies of Lyari in the 2018 general elections. He added that later, the PPP’s candidates won 12 out of 13 UCs of Lyari in the last local government elections in the city.