PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday rejected pleas of four independent candidates belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), including former federal minister Sheharyar Afridi, challenging allotment of election symbols to them without their consultation by the concerned returning officers.

However, a bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan accepted petition of former provincial finance minister and PTI leader Taimur Saleem Jhagra and directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to allot him ‘traffic light’ as his election symbol instead of ‘round table’.

About the petitioner Sheharyar Afridi, a former MPA Asif Khan, and two other candidates Aftab Alam and Shafiullah Khan, the ECP’s counsel Mohsin Kamran Siddique stated that they had not given any application to their returning officer for getting a particular electoral symbol.

These petitioners had challenged the decision of the returning officers to issue different election symbols to them and made Election Commission of Pakistan, returning officers and district returning officers as respondents in their petitions.

Allows Jhagra’s petition seeking ‘traffic light’ as symbol

Lawyer appearing for Sheharyar Afridi, who is contesting elections on NA-35 Kohat, stated that his client was allocated the electoral symbol ‘bottle’.

He said he had served as a federal minister and he should have been given a symbol of his choice. He stated that Mr Afridi had learned about the allotment of ‘bottle’ as his election symbol from social media.

He argued that candidates were asked for their opinion before the allotment of the election symbol and but the petitioner was never asked about it.

He added that the petitioner tried to contact returning officers several times but received no reply.

Similarly, in the petition of ex-MPA Asif Khan, now contesting for NA-32 Peshawar, his counsel stated that he was contesting elections on the election symbol ‘wheel-borrow’.

He said that PK-82 constituency of KP assembly also fell in NA-32 wherein the same symbol was awarded to another candidate having the same name.

He argued that the assigned election symbol would create great confusion among voters because two candidates for the provincial and National Assembly constituencies had the same name and election symbol.

He claimed that there was every possibility that petitioner’s voters would end up polling ballots to another candidate for PK-82 that was against the fundamental, constitutional and election right of the petitioner.

Similarly, independent candidate Shafiullah, who belongs to the PTI and is a resident of Kohat district, petitioned the high court against the allotment of the ‘cauliflower’ election symbol to him. Another candidate from the area, Advocate Aftab Alam, had challenged the award of the election symbol ‘brinjal’ to him.

The ECP’s counsel argued that none of these petitioners had submitted any application with their returning officers and at this stage their pleas shouldn’t be allowed.

He argued that the commission had already started printing of the ballot papers and at such a belated stage the election symbols could not be changed.

TAIMUR JHAGRA CASE: Senior lawyer Ali Gohar Durrani appeared for Mr Jhagra and argued that his client had submitted application to the returning officer of KP Assembly constituency PK-79, from where he had been contesting.

He argued that in the said application he had requested for allocating “traffic light’ as election symbol to him.

Mr Durrani contended that under section 67(3) of the Elections Act, 2017, an independent candidate should choose and should be allotted a symbol of his choice.

However, contrary to the provisions of the Elections Act the RO had allotted him ‘round table’ as election symbol.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024