File photo of ANP Senior Vice President Ameer Haider Khan Hoti
Awami National Party (ANP) Senior Vice President Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Tuesday voiced concerned that his party’s electoral symbol will be pulled to serve as a “balancing act” in defense of an earlier judgment.
While he did not specifically name any party, he was likely referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose electoral symbol of a cricket bat was withdrawn by the ECP last week over challenges to its intra-party elections. The ECP has similarly reserved its verdict on the ANP’s request for a six-month extension to conduct intra-party elections, with a potential for it to lose its poll symbol of a ‘lantern’ if its plea is rejected.
“May Allah prove it wrong, but they might take a decision against the ANP to prove one judgment right,” Hoti told a gathering Peshawar, adding this was similar to how a “balance” was achieved when Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif and then-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen were disqualified. He hoped that whatever decision the ECP arrives upon is in accordance with the law and Constitution.
“According to the law, the intra-party elections have to be held within five years and five years for the polls will complete in May 2024,” he said, maintaining the party still had time to conduct fresh polls. He also warned that the ANP would not forget if “fresh wounds” were inflicted on it in the lead-up to the general elections.
Last week, a five-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja took up the case of the ANP’s intra-party elections. Appearing before the bench, ANP Secretary General Mian Iftikhar Hussain claimed the party’s last elections were conducted in May 2019 and had a four-year term. Accordingly, he argued, the party’s election should have been held in May.