LAHORE, Aug 20: Grand Democratic Alliance leaders on Tuesday took back their earlier decision of working as an electoral alliance and now component parties will seek separate symbols from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to contest the general elections.

The decision was taken to prevent the expulsion of various parties from the alliance, as had been necessitated under an order of the election commission for the remaining component parties to contest the polls under one symbol.

Now the GDA will work as a political alliance —- just like the ARD —- GDA president Hamid Nasir Chattha said.

The commission on Monday had refused to issue a separate symbol to Mr Chattha’s faction of the PML on the ground that it was a component of the GDA.

The commission had added that the allotment of ‘bus’ as a symbol to the GDA was subject to the deletion of the names of the Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party, the Islamic Democratic Front and the Tehrik-i-Wafaq from the list of its component parties as the request of these parties for registration as parties had been turned down for their documents were not in conformity with the provisions of the Political Parties Order.

The commission had also said that the GDA was also required to delete the names of the Pakistan Qaumi Pushtoon Tehrik and the Jamaat-i-Islami (Maudoodi Group) as they had not submitted their documents to the commission.

“We don’t want to part ways with our colleagues. We’ll stay as a political alliance, not an electoral alliance”, Mr Chattha said.

He said now his party and those led by Pir Fazle Haq, Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, Dr Nasir Khan and Dr Saleem Haider would apply to the commission for separate election symbols.

The GDA would make the necessary adjustments during the next couple of days.

The GDA had been set up to overthrow the Nawaz Sharif government. However, most of its parties joined hands with the PML-N in the last quarter of 2000 to form the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.

Parties not willing to join hands with the PML-N had decided to retain the GDA under the leadership of Mr Hamid Nasir Chattha.

It was converted into an electoral alliance only recently.