Pakistan Election Commission refutes claims of allocating ‘bat’ symbol to any party

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a clear rebuttal to reports suggesting the allocation of the ‘bat’ symbol to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians, as reported by ARY News.In an official statement released on Monday evening, an ECP spokesperson categorically denied that the ‘Bat’ symbol had been granted to PTI-P or any other political party.

Earlier, Pervaiz Khattak, the head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P), had claimed that the party was offered the ‘bat’ as an election symbol but declined the offer.Recently, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faced a setback when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced its reserved verdict on the party’s intra-party elections, leading to the loss of the electoral symbol ‘bat,’ according to ARY News.

The five-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, declared the PTI’s intra-party elections null and void after considering arguments from all parties involved.In the aftermath of the ECP verdict, Gohar Ali Khan, the newly elected PTI chairman who replaced Imran Khan, will no longer retain his position as the party’s head. The developments surrounding the allocation of the ‘bat’ symbol and the nullification of intra-party elections have stirred controversy within the political landscape, ARY News reported.

On December 24, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said they would approach the Peshawar High Court (PHC) or the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to strip the former party’s symbol ‘Bat’, Geo News reported.Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced on Saturday.

The ECP on Friday decided against letting the PTI retain its ‘bat’ electoral symbol for the February 8 general election, Dawn newspaper reported.The ECP’s verdict was announced a day after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) directed the electoral watchdog to decide on PTI’s intra-party polls and electoral symbol by Friday in ‘accordance with the law’.