ECP allots election symbols to 23 political parties

As the country gears up for general elections later in the year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday allotted election symbols to 23 political parties, Express News reported.

A meeting of the four-member commission, led by ECP member Nisar Durrani, was convened to hear petitions from various political parties seeking the allotment of symbols for the national polls.

During the proceedings, the ECP decided to withhold the decision on allotting symbol to the newly-formed political party, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), led by sugar baron Jehangir Tareen, and the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

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The ECP proposed the sparrow symbol for the IPP, although the party had initially requested the eagle symbol, which was already assigned to the APML. The representative of IPP was advised by the member ECP to settle for the sparrow symbol, citing its resemblance to the party's initial choice, the eagle.

Due to the pending registration status of IPP as a political party, the ECP dismissed the request for symbol allocation and instructed the party's representative to submit relevant documents before the commission.

Meanwhile, the ECP allotted election symbols to several other parties. The Pakistan Peoples Party received the sword symbol, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) was assigned the book symbol, Rabta Jamiat-e-Islam was given the ring symbol, and the People's Muslim League was allotted the cup symbol.

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Other allocations included the bucket symbol for Kisan Ittehad, the moon symbol for the Hazara Democratic Party, the hockey symbol for Pakistan Awami League, and the knife symbol for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaniyat.

Moreover, the missile symbol was assigned to Pakistan Amn Tehreek, the pistol symbol to Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz Pakistan, the victory symbol to Pakistan People's Party (Bhutto Shaheed), the vest symbol to Pakistan Falahi Tehreek, and the plaque symbol to JUI (Nazryati). The Jadeed Awami Party received the helmet symbol, Tehreek-e-Awam Pakistan was given the telephone symbol, and Pakistan Falahi Tehreek was assigned the thermos symbol. Lastly, the jug symbol was allocated to the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek.

The ECP also made the allotment of the eagle symbol to APML contingent upon the party holding intra-party elections. The APML assured the commission that they would conduct these elections within 40 days.