ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulator on Friday stripped former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of its iconic election symbol, a cricket bat, less than two months before Pakistan heads to the polls, with analysts saying the move would hurt the party’s chances of winning seats in the upcoming elections.
The judgment came days after a disgruntled PTI leader, Akbar S. Babar, challenged the PTI’s intraparty elections in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), urging the watchdog to declare the exercise null and void for violating rules. Babar said the PTI had neither displayed a final list of candidates nor was any paperwork done for the polls.
The ECP last month declared null and void the PTI’s intraparty elections held in June 2022. It gave the party 20 days to hold fresh elections to become eligible for the bat symbol that it had applied for. The PTI held the intraparty polls on December 3, electing Barrister Gohar Khan as its chairman along with other office bearers and submitted the certificate to the election commission for the bat symbol.
The bat is reflective of Khan’s past as a successful cricketer. The former prime minister led Pakistan to their only 50-over World Cup win in 1992, propelling him to an unrivaled position among Pakistan’s cricket greats.
A five-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja reserved the judgment this Friday after hearing arguments from both sides—the PTI and petitioners that challenged the intraparty polls.
“It is held that PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated 23rd November 2023 and failed to hold intraparty election in accordance with PTI’s prevailing Constitution 2019 and the Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017,” the ECP said in its 11-page verdict.
“Therefore, the certificate dated 4th December 2023 and Form 65 filed by the alleged Chairman, is hereby regretted and rejected accordingly,” it added.
“The provisions of Section 215 of the Election Act, 2017 are hereby invoked and PTI is hereby declared ineligible to obtain, the Election Symbol, for which they have applied for.”
Khan’s party criticized the verdict, terming it a “disgusting and shameful” attempt to keep the PTI away from elections.

Political analysts said the move would hurt the PTI’s chances of winning seats in the upcoming general elections.
“The ECP scrutiny of the PTI intraparty polls was a good thing for internal democracy of the political parties,” Amir Zia, a political analyst, told Arab News.
“But stripping it off the election symbol is quite unusual and surprising.”
He said the judgment would reek of “discrimination” against the PTI as the election commission has not scrutinized the intraparty polls of at least 174 other parties registered with it.
“The PTI can still challenge the judgment in the superior judiciary for relief, otherwise this would be a huge setback to it ahead of the elections,” Zia said.
Political analyst Zaigham Khan said the election symbol of any political party is like a trademark, and that people associate with it.
“The electoral symbol of any party would be an intangible asset of any political party and depriving PTI of it ahead of elections would not be received well by the public at large,” Khan told Arab News.
He said the PTI would not be allotted any election symbol after the ECP’s verdict, due to which its candidates would be considered “independents.”
“This means the PTI would not be eligible for a share in the reserved seats for women and minorities in national and provincial assemblies regardless of victory of its candidates in the general elections,” he said.
Khan, who is serving a three-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail after he was convicted by a trial court on graft charges, has accused Pakistan’s powerful military, the ECP, and his political rivals of colluding to keep him and the PTI away from elections. He denies any wrongdoing and says the charges against him are politically motivated.
Pakistan’s military, the ECP, and the caretaker government have strongly rejected his allegations.