ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election oversight body will allocate today, on Saturday, electoral symbols to candidates contesting the upcoming national elections, marking an important phase of the exercise.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) deadline to file nominations expired on Dec. 24, with 28,626 candidates submitting their nominations for national and provincial assembly elections.
It was followed by the process of scrutiny of nominations till Dec. 30. The process of receiving appeals from the candidates continued till Jan. 3, which were finalized by Jan. 10.
The last date for candidates to withdraw nominations was Jan. 12, but the ECP on Friday extended the time period by a few hours.
“To facilitate political parties and candidates, the election commission has extended the time for withdrawal of nomination papers,” the regulator said on Friday.
“Now, the candidates can withdraw their nominations till 9pm tonight.”
Returning officers (ROs), appointed by the ECP, will now issue electoral symbols to candidates.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Pakistan is hearing a petition filed by the country’s election oversight body today, on Friday, that challenged a high court ruling allowing former prime minister Imran Khan’s party to retain its electoral symbol, a cricket bat.
The ECP last month stripped the party of the symbol, ruling its intraparty polls were not held according to the country’s election laws and the party’s constitution. But the Peshawar High Court (PHC) this week declared the ECP’s decision “unconstitutional.”
During a hearing of the ECP petition on Friday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa emphasized the right of all political party members to vote for their leaders, describing democracy as a fundamental right not only nationally but also within the political factions.
“Democracy is a fundamental right, which should be present in both a country and a political party,” he continued.
The elections, which were originally supposed to be held in November 2023, were delayed after the government of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to hold the upcoming polls based on the results of a fresh population census conducted last year.
Pakistan is currently being run by a caretaker administration under interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar. Millions of Pakistanis will head to the ballot box, amid a precarious security and economic situation, on February 8 to cast their votes and elect their representatives.