ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election regulatory authority said on Tuesday political parties without electoral symbols will not get reserved seats, local media reports, as independent candidates backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party emerged as the largest group after securing more than 90 seats in the National Assembly.
PTI candidates could not contest the Feb. 8 national polls under their party’s symbol of cricket bat after being deprived of it by the country’s superior judiciary due to the flawed intra-party polls.
Subsequently, PTI candidates entered the electoral contest for national and provincial seats across Pakistan as independents.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Tuesday announced that political parties without electoral symbols would not be allotted reserved seats in the National Assembly,” Pakistan Geo News said in a report.
“In its statement, the ECP has said that the reserved seats, of which there are a total of 70 dedicated to women and minorities, will be allotted on the basis of the Election Act 2017 and that they will be distributed among the political parties in a proportion that is in line with their respective representation in the assemblies if the winning independent candidates fail to join any party,” it added.
Khan, the PTI founding leader, has already said his party would not form the government with other big political factions in national or provincial assemblies.
His rival, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Tuesday he was willing to sit in the opposition if the independents could prove their majority in parliament and form the next government in the country.
