ECP awards ‘lantern’ election symbol to ANP with fine

At a time when the entire nation is looking up to the Supreme Court (SC) for its decision in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) election symbol case which is due to be pronounced today, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday awarded to the Awami National Party (ANP) the election symbol of ‘lantern’ along with a fine of Rs20,000, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The election commission ordered the ANP to hold its intra-party elections by May 10, 2024.

In its order, the commission said that the schedule for the general elections had been announced.  

It further said that despite the fact that a notice had been issued to the party, the latter failed to hold the elections. “The party sought time from the ECP instead,” read the verdict.

The commission further said that it had not allotted an election symbol to the PTI since it, too, did not hold the intra-party elections. “Similarly, we delisted 13 other parties due to the same reason,” it said, adding, “All these parties failed to hold the elections under sections 208, 209 and 210 of the Election Act, 2017.”   

Reporter: Hashir Warraich