ISLAMABAD –
In what is being perceived as a trendsetting first, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is mulling allotment of the election symbol of ‘empty ballot box’ to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the province of Punjab, The Dependent has learnt.
This would be the first time the ECP would not only suggest but enforce an election symbol of a party, and could also herald the start of separate party symbols in different provinces of Pakistan.
“This is to keep things realistic, give the voters the ground realities, and prevent parties from thinking too highly of themselves,” said an ECP official taking a seeming dig at PPP President Asif Ali Zardari who had boasted that his party is the only one capable of overestimating itself in all four provinces (as reported by The Dependent’s September 24 edition).
“So in the future if a party wants to present itself as a tiger in Pakistan’s largest city, only to be eaten alive, we would want to discourage such practices,” the official adds.
Even though the new policy is likely to impact all election contestants, ECP insiders reveal that the PTI might get to keep the ‘bat’ as their election symbol throughout the country.
“It would be unfair to take away a sign is the be-all end-all representation of any party,” says an insider.
