ISLAMABAD (PEN) : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued guidelines on Tuesday, urging officials to refrain from altering the election symbols of candidates participating in the upcoming elections.
As per the instructions, the Election Commission has specifically directed Provincial Election Commissioners, District Returning Officers (DROs), and Returning Officers (ROs) to avoid making changes to the allocated election symbols. If there arises a necessity to modify the election symbol, the Commission has mandated obtaining prior permission.
Considering that the printing of ballot papers is already in progress, the ECP has stressed the practical challenges in effecting changes to the election symbols at this stage.
It is noteworthy that the ECP has scheduled the general elections for February 8 nationwide, and election symbols have already been assigned to political parties.
In a recent development, the ECP assigned election symbols to PTI leaders as independent candidates, with Shoaib Shaheen initially allotted the shoe symbol, later modified to a dove symbol.
Additionally, leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) reported that seven candidates from their party were not granted the arrow symbol, leading them to be considered as independent candidates.