ISLAMABAD: ‘Sun’ and ‘crescent’, regarded as symbolising hope and power, are the most sought-after symbols for the coming general election.

Most of the parties aspiring to get these two symbols which have been added to the list of approved symbols after 2008 elections are new comers to the electoral arena. Mainstream parties have chosen to retain their old symbols.

Till expiry of deadline for submitting applications for the allocation of symbols on Friday, 118 political parties — out of the 227 registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) — have met key requirements for contesting polls.

Of them, 17 political parties want to get ‘sun’ as their election symbol. It is the only choice for three political parties and top priority in the list of sought-after symbols for another four parties.

‘Crescent’ is the number one choice for five political parties among total 12 parties which have included it in the list in order of priority. It is first choice for Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehrik. It is second choice after ‘inkpot with pen’ for former federal minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad’s Awami Muslim League Pakistan.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was among political parties which filed an application with the ECP on the last date. It has applied for its traditional symbol ‘tiger’.

An ECP official told Dawn that political parties having contested previous elections on a particular symbol would be given preference in allocating the same symbol for the coming elections.

He said in other cases draw would be held for symbols sought by more than one political party.

Answering a question, he said since the symbol of ‘sun’ was to be allocated for the first time, no party would be given preference and a draw would be held. The parties which had mentioned ‘sun’ as the only choice would be given an opportunity to choose other symbols if they failed to get it in the draw.

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians has applied for its old symbol ‘arrow’. Nine other parties have included ‘arrow’ in their lists, with at least one seeking it as first choice, followed by ‘tiger’.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Q and Jamaat-i-Islami have asked for their traditional election symbols ‘kite’, ‘bicycle’ and ‘scale’, respectively. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf has sought ‘bat’ as its election symbol.

Awami National Party has applied for ‘lantern’, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party ‘tree’ and Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s party Tehrik Tahaffuz-i-Pakistan ‘missile’.

All Pakistan Muslim League headed by former president Pervez Musharraf has applied for ‘eagle’ as its election symbol and mentioned ‘horse’ and ‘cannon’ as alternate choices.

Pakistan Muslim League has applied for ‘leaf’, ‘eagle’ and ‘book’ in order of priority. ‘Camel’ is the only choice for Balochistan National Party-Awami and the other faction of BNP wants ‘axe’, ‘horse’ or ‘hut’ in order of priority.

Pakistan Muslim League-Z headed by Mohammad Ejazul Haq has applied for ‘helicopter’, and its alternative choice is ‘clock’.

An alliance of five politico-religious parties — Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-S, JUI-Nazaryati, Pakistan Rahe Haq Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (Swad-i-Azam), and Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistan-Elahi Zaheer — has applied for ‘ladder’ as election symbol. JUI-F has applied for ‘book’.