ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday reiterated its demand that the Election Commission of Pakistan (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 raised many eyebrows.
PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan urged the commission to promptly provide a detailed decision in line with the verbal order given on August 30, as the electoral watchdog had no legal and constitutional justification to withhold the electoral symbol.
He said PTI was the largest and only federal political party of the country, adding the electoral symbol of “bat” was a sign of unity and strength of the federation of Pakistan.
He made it clear that the concept of free, fair, and transparent elections without the largest and most formidable political force in the country was a farce.
He went on to say that the conspiracy to keep PTI out of the electoral arena on state-mandated and unknown technical grounds was akin to an attack on the constitution and political system of the country.
Hasan said the intra-party elections of PTI were duly held on June 9, 2022, in pursuance of the party’s 2019 constitution, which the commission accepted as correct and confessed in its oral order dated August 30, 2023.
He stated that the unjustified and unnecessary delay in the issuance of the written decision after the oral ruling given on August 30, 2023, seemed to give rise to the perception that the original decision might be changed and to put PTI in a constant state of uncertainty before the elections.
He contended that the nation was aware of the ECP’s old tactics based on its prejudice to target PTI for no reason, adding the ECP should avoid unconstitutional and illegal political engineering and should issue a written decision regarding the election symbol of PTI bat sans any delay in the light of the oral declaration.
He made it clear that if the commission deviated from its constitutional mandate and tried to steal the PTI election symbol unjustly and unlawfully, the nation would never accept it.
He stated that PTI would take all legal and political actions against any unconstitutional and illegal step of the commission.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023