ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Barrister Gohar Khan on Wednesday said that allotment of tickets to candidates will be finalised within two days as he had completed the consultation process with PTI founding chairman Imran Khan.

During his interaction with journalists here on Wednesday, Barrister Khan said that he held meeting with the party’s founding chairman pertaining to the allotment of party tickets to get his final nod about the potential PTI candidates for Feb 8 general elections.

Barrister Khan expressed his disappointment over the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict, restoring Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order which had stripped the party of its iconic electoral symbol ‘bat’.

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He expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would get them the ‘bat’ back, demanding the top court to instantly intervene before it was too late.

Hopes Supreme Court will give ‘bat’ symbol back to the party

The PTI leader, who after the PHC orders of restoring the ECP orders, is now former chairman of PTI, said that Mr Khan sacrificed his party chairmanship to protect the party’s electoral symbol ‘bat’ for the people, for democracy and for development of the country.

He lamented the ECP was chasing the case like it had never done so in the past, requesting the Supreme Court to immediately intervene to thwart the “plot” to deprive the PTI of its electoral symbol.

The PTI leader said the top court had already settled that snatching the electoral symbol was tantamount to dissolving a political party and this right only lies with the apex court under Article 17 of the Constitution.

“If you take away our electoral symbol, will all of them contest as independent candidates? If this happens, who will be responsible for horse-trading after the polls?” he asked, adding that there are total of 227 reserved seats which played an important role in the election of the president and prime minister, which would be gone to the party contesting elections on electoral symbol, adding that the PTI could not be deprived of 227 reserved seats come what may.

Barrister Khan claimed that all brutal tactics were being used against PTI and its leaders and workers, which clearly indicated how much these people were scared of PTI.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2024