PESHAWAR: Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, the Central Senior Vice President of the Awami National Party (ANP), voiced concerns on Tuesday that the appropriation of his party’s election symbol was being considered as a means of balancing the rights of another ruling.
The ANP leader’s remarks followed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to postpone its decision about the party’s application for a six-month extension to hold internal elections, potentially costing it the poll symbol “lantern.”
The commission had already invalidated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) claim to the famous electoral symbol and declared the party’s intra-party polls to be “unconstitutional.”
“May Allah prove me wrong, but they could decide against the ANP to validate one ruling,” Ameer Haider Hoti stated in a speech.
As judgments against Jahangir Khan Tareen and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif were handed down, a similar move was being attempted to be carried out.
Hoti stated that some secrets should be kept private since they wanted to forget about them. But he asked the relevant authorities to make sure that any choice they make complies with the nation’s laws and Constitution.”In line with the legislation, intra-party elections must take place within five years, and the polling period will end in May 2024,” he stated.
If more injuries were done, the senior ANP leader warned that they would not forget.
A five-person ECP bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the case on December 22.Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the secretary general of the ANP, testified before the bench that the party’s latest election took place in May 2019 and that its intra-party election had a four-year tenure. He had therefore stated that the party’s election would take place in May of this year.
The petitioner requested further time to take necessary action because they were unable to fulfill the legal criteria, as stated by the ECP officials.
To be eligible to receive an electoral symbol, a political party must provide documentation of its internal polls.
It was made plain by an electoral authority member that the ECP may only prolong the date for intra-party elections by five years.
