PTI moves ECP for allotting lota symbol to ruling alliance

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has been unleashing scathing criticism on Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja in recent months, has now given a ‘piece of recommendation’ to him.

PTI Senior Vice-President Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has written an open letter to the chief election commissioner, recommending him to allot a common symbol ‘lota’ (turncoat) to the government alliance for the elections.

Fawad said that Pakistan is going through a serious multilateral crisis as a result of a dangerous external conspiracy and the economy, the Constitution and politics are in the grip of this crisis.

In the 2018 general elections, he noted these parties contested polls against each other, are moving towards electoral unity at the Centre and in the provinces and this series began on March 08, 2022, in a no-confidence motion against the elected prime minister of PTI.

The PTI leader said that the worst horse-trading in history was done in the Sindh House in Islamabad, the crime sequence of conscience selling, horse-trading and floor crossing started from the Centre. He contended in Punjab, 20 members emerged who moved on the threshold of deviation from the Constitution and law and sold their conscience and, as a result, the commission declared their seats vacant and issued a decision and schedule for holding the by-elections.

Fawad says the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party, which have nurtured shameful rituals like horse-trading, floor-crossing and conscience selling in Punjab, have announced electoral alliances. "These parties have fielded mostly the same turncoats that the commission disqualified on floor-crossing in the by-elections and in fact the PTI is now contesting this multi-party alliance as an opposition."

He said that all these parties must be considered as an electoral unit and these parties should be stopped from using their election symbols and should be allotted a joint election symbol. “In our opinion, ‘lota’ is the most suitable election symbol for this multi-party alliance. Getting the ‘lota’ mark will help the people decide on the election vote during the election,” he wrote.