PPP to contest elections with sword symbol after 41 years, Parliamentarians arrow, PMLN lion, Bat for PTI, MQM with kite

ISLAMABAD (By Lala Hassan) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will contest the upcoming general elections (25 July, 2018) with the symbol of the sword.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) and others formed PPP in 1967 and it fought the elections of 1970 with the symbol of sword. However, after the martial law imposed by General Zia in 1977 the symbol was removed.

Earlier, PPP’s Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bukhari had requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to allot party its original electoral symbol of the sword.

“In 1987, the symbol of the sword wasn’t even present in the list of allotted symbols,” told Bukhari to ECP. “PPP has the right to this electoral symbol as it represents the sword of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.”

After being barred from using the symbol of the sword, the party had eventually taken up the symbol of the arrow, which it is more commonly associated with.

ECP’s five members committee, after hearing the arguments, allotted the symbol of its choice.

The Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, who presided over the process of allotting parties and candidates their symbols, remarked that political parties are eligible for all those electoral symbols over which there is no dispute.

The leaders of both factions of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, PIB’s Farooq Sattar and Bahadurabad’s Amir Khan, also appeared before the ECP.

Amir Khan remarked that the electoral symbol of the kite should be allotted to MQM, adding that the difference between two factions has nothing to do with the electoral symbol.

“In our view, there is no dispute in Muttahida Qaumi Movement,” said Chief Election Commission and allotted the party its desired symbol.

During the process, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) was allotted the symbol of lion, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) allotted bat, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) given scale, PPP Parliamentarians allotted arrow, while Awami National Party (ANP) and Awami Muslim League received lamp, and pen and inkpot respectively.