PTI announces its aspirants to go for polls independently
Pakistan
Expresses disappointment over the Supreme Court’s ruling
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Expressing their disappointment over the Supreme Court’s ruling of setting aside the Peshawar High Court verdict and withdrawing bat as an electoral symbol from the PIT, the lawyers of PTI said on Saturday that their candidates will contest elections independently.
“All PTI candidates will contest independently. We will issue a list of all our candidates with their election symbols,” PTI’s now-former chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told journalists at the Supreme Court in Islamabad.
The electoral symbol is crucial to any political party as voters are aware of which candidate to vote for on polling day; however, since the PTI does not have a unified symbol now, it might lose votes due to confusion among the people.
The PTI’s resolve to still contest polls came after the Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to strip of PTI’s ‘bat’ symbol.
In his presser, Gohar noted that the top court’s order was “controversial” and it had “deeply disappointed” him.
He added that his party would challenge the Supreme Court's verdict.
Gohar, who was elected the party’s chairman, but since the intra-party polls are invalid, he’s been stripped of his title as well, said that the majority of Pakistan’s voters support the PTI.
“Whether we have the bat or not, the people will still vote for us [...] we are a very strong party,” Gohar added, but noted that it was the court’s duty to ensure that every person’s basic rights are guaranteed.
For his part, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar said the party was anticipating the decision, therefore, their preparations were complete. “We will compete the February 8 with all-out force,” he added.
