Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf calls out ECP to allot 'bat' symbol without delay

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 21 : The embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has demanded the 'bat' symbol to be allotted to the party "without delay" ahead of the upcoming general elections, Dawn reported on Saturday.

PTI alleged the lack of a "level playing field" and called the delay in issuance of the symbol "unjustifiable" and "intolerable".

"The ECP should immediately issue its detailed written order pertaining to the party election symbol because the inordinate delay and non-issuance of the oral decision made on August 30 [has] raised many eyebrows," Dawn quoted a PTI spokesman from a press release.

The spokesman urged the watchdog to promptly release a detailed decision in line with the verbal order given on August 30, as it had no legal and constitutional justification to withhold the party's electoral symbol.

The spokesman made it clear that the concept of free, fair and transparent polls "without the largest and most formidable political force of the country was a farce".

"The conspiracy to keep PTI out of the electoral arena on the state-mandated and unknown technical grounds was akin to an attack on the Constitution and political system of the country," he said.

The PTI spokesperson claimed that the party's intra-party elections were held on June 9, 2022, in pursuance of the party's 2019 constitution, which the watchdog had accepted as correct, and confirmed in its August 30 oral order, Dawn reported.

He said the unjustified and unnecessary delay in the issuance of a written decision by ECP had strengthened a perception that the original decision might be changed to put the party in a constant state of uncertainty before the elections.

The PTI spokesperson urged the ECP to avoid unconstitutional and illegal political engineering and issue a written decision regarding the 'bat' as PTI's election symbol without delay.

He cautioned that people would never accept if the ECP deviated from its constitutional mandate and tried to "steal" the PTI's election symbol unlawfully, Dawn reported.

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