ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Saturday night announced its candidates would contest the scheduled Feb 8, elections independently after the apex court decision, depriving the party of its electoral symbol.
“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.
Barrister Gohar noted that the Supreme court’s order was ‘controversial’ and it had ‘deeply disappointed’ him, announcing that his party would challenge the Supreme Court’s verdict.
“Whether we have the bat or not, the people are still us,” the PTI chief said, noting that it was the court’s duty to ensure that every person’s basic rights are guaranteed.
He pointed out that the technical grounds, on which the judgment was given, was misread, claiming that contesting elections independently would open new doors of corruption.
Taking over the presser, 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.
“PTI candidates cannot be barred from contesting elections as independents”, Ali Zafar said, regretting that ‘soft questions’ were asked from the people who appeared before the apex court.
