The Election Commission of Pakistan’s review petition succeeded against the Peshawar High Court’s decision striking down its taking away the ‘bat’ symbol of the PTI, and the party’s internal elections, which saw Barrister Gohar Ali Khan elected Chairman, have once again also been stuck down. There is now a very limited time in which to obtain a decision on an issue which affects the entire election. The last date for allotment of symbols is January 13, and the matter must be decided by then. Parties are quite adept at issuing tickets on that date, leaving it to candidates to file on time.
This is the second blow for the PTI after it saw the rejection of the nomination papers of a large number of candidates at that stage. It has become a double whammy: even if the symbol is restored, the frontrunners for allotment have had their papers rejected; even if their appeals are accepted, the symbol will not be available for allotment. The PTI therefore needs both the symbol to be restored and the nominations of its potential candidates to be accepted, to have a fighting chance in the election. It almost seems as if there is some force which does not want the PTI to participate in the polls, which fears that despite the May 9 attacks, the electorate would still vote for the PTI candidate in droves.
The PTI is apparently facing the sort of pre-poll rigging that will more or less oblige it to claim that it was robbed, no matter what the results. It may not even have to win more than a handful of seats to claim that it was deprived of office. That is a blot on whoever is conducting the election. That the 2018 elections were ham handed does not justify the present version of creating a level playing field. Apart from the very real factor or the need for party, or rather even candidate, symbols among an illiterate electorate, it should not be forgotten that many people, perhaps millions, perhaps even a majority, had decided to vote for the PTI, and now stand deprived of that, even though it is a fundamental right. That will have to be kept in mind by the judicial forums that consider the case, and it will be up to the PTI’s lawyers to argue the case intelligently.
