PTI has lost ‘bat’, not party status: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), despite losing its election symbol, continues to be officially recognized as a political party registered by the commission.

A spokesman for the ECP told The News that the PTI has not been delisted but only deprived of its election symbol for the next elections because of its failure to conduct its intra-party elections according to the law. When asked whether the returned independent candidates can join PTI in the post-8-Feb assemblies, the ECP spokesman said that this is a legal question which requires review by the ECP’s legal wing. The spokesman said the ECP’s legal wing has to review the legal implications of the withdrawal of election symbol of PTI and whether or not the returned independent candidates could join the PTI in the national and provincial assemblies.

Wasim Sajjad, a constitutional expert and former chairman Senate, when approached, told this correspondent that the issue is though confusing, in his opinion the PTI has only been barred from contesting elections after having been deprived of its election symbol. He said since the party has not been delisted by the ECP, therefore, it exists and the returned independent candidates of the next assemblies can join the PTI like any other party.

Former attorney general and senior lawyer Anwar Mansoor had told this newspaper on Monday that after the elections, those elected as independents would have the option of joining the PTI. The former attorney general added that the PTI, as a political party, can be represented in the next parliament by those opting to join it after winning the elections as independent candidates. Former secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad was, however, of the view that a political party that loses its election symbol also loses its official status as a political party and gets deregistered by the ECP.