LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition by jailed PTI President Parvez Elahi and upheld a decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of allotting him ‘donkey cart’ as electoral symbol.

Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan announced the verdict that was reserved the other day on the petition of the former chief minister.

Elahi’s counsel had pleaded that the ECP allotted ‘donkey cart’ symbol to the petitioner, whereas he had requested for ‘peacock’.

He urged the court to order the commission to allocate ‘peacock’ as electoral symbol to the petitioner.

A counsel for the ECP stated that a final notification of the election symbol had been issued. He said change in election symbol was not possible as the ballot papers had also been printed.

He said changing the electoral symbol of any candidate at this stage would delay the Feb 8 election in the respective constituency.

The commission’s lawyer pointed out that the petitioner had not approached the returning officer concerned in time.

Mr Elahi is contesting election from PP-32 (Gujrat), following permission granted by the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2024