ECP sends parties poll symbols list to ROs

ISLAMABAD: In a major move towards the conduct of elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday sent details of election symbols of political parties to returning officers (ROs).

The ECP has dispatched a letter ‘Top Priority’ to the returning officers of national and provincial assemblies along with the list of election symbols of 145 political parties. It emphasizes that only candidates nominated by political parties should be allotted relevant election symbols.

The returning officers have been told that election symbols of political parties should not be given to any independent candidate. A list of separate election symbols for independent candidates has been sent to returning officers as well. The ECP directed the returning officers not to allot symbols to candidates other than those mentioned in the list.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is among over a dozen political parties which has not been named in the list of election symbols, as their symbols have been stopped due to the non-conduct of intra-party elections, a legal requirement to qualify for an election symbol.

The parties that have been allotted symbols include Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) has been allotted ‘arrow’, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ‘sword’, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ‘tiger’, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Nazriyati ‘batsman’, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP) ‘turban’, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) ‘eagle’, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) allotted ‘kite’, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (JUIP) ‘book’, Balochistan National Party (BNP) ‘axe’, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JIP) allotted ‘scale’, Sunni Ittehad Council ‘horse’, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) ‘human eye’, Pakistan Muslim League ‘tractor’ and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party ‘tree’ symbol.