Taj Haider urges CEC to issue instructions to all ROs to allot prescribed symbols under Section 66 of Elections Act 2017
- “There is no ambiguity in this Section of the Elections Act 2017.”
- Haider says independent candidates take advantage of “prejudices”.
- PPP highlights prevailing trend of electoral symbol denial.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has voiced concerns over the denial of the party’s arrow electoral symbol to the ticket holders in various constituencies of Punjab, The News reported on Tuesday.
Taj Haider, in-charge of PPP’s election monitoring cell, wrote to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja to bring to notice the prevailing trend in Punjab of denial of party election arrow symbol to the PPP Parliamentarians ticket-holders and placing them in the category of independent candidates.
“Our serious concerns over such denials may kindly be noted,” he said in the letter.
Haider said that according to Section 66 of the Elections Act 2017, “a declaration before the Returning Officer about his affiliation with a particular political party, if any, along with a certificate from the political party, showing that he is that party’s candidate from that constituency” was the only and the final requirement for “seeking allotment of a prescribed arrow symbol”
“There is no ambiguity in this Section of the Elections Act 2017, and it should be followed in letter and spirit,” he added. The election cell in-charge said, “You would agree sir, that the whole system of our constitutional democracy is built around the basic structure of political parties.
“Accepted that citizens have the option of contesting elections as independent candidates but, we have repeatedly experienced that the presence of independents in an elected house does open an unfortunate window for horse trading and exerting pressures on the elected independents,” he said in the letter to the CEC.
Haider said independent candidates are often elected by taking advantage of “parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian and provincial prejudices” fault lines among our citizens.
He said under Article 33 of the Constitution, the state should beat such and comparable biases down. “Rather residents ought to be urged to decide on the exhibition, arrangements and pronouncements of ideological groups,” he added.
The representative said that pushing legitimate competitors, who are partnered to a party, and furthermore submitted required records prior to returning officials at the hour of looking for an endorsed image, outside the overlay of that party and into the class of free thinkers negates the arrangements of Article 33 of Constitution and the vital and adequate necessities of Segment 66 of the Political decision Act 2017.
He mentioned to the CEC that he ought to give general directions to all ROs and DROs to dispense recommended images under Segment 66 of the Races Act 2017, to all competitors who have at the hour of looking for an endorsed image presented a declaration from their party with respect to their connection to that party.
