PTI considering election boycott as plan C faces setback

PTI’s attempt, known as plan C, aimed to consolidate independently elected lawmakers under a single banner following the February 8 vote. However, this plan appears to have hit a roadblock as Election Rules 2017 prohibit PTI-backed candidates from officially joining the party.

After the failure of PTI’s initial plan to contest the 2024 general election using the cricket bat symbol, the party devised an alternative strategy, referred to as plan B. This involved fielding candidates on the tickets of PTI-Nazriyati. Despite this, PTI-N’s Chief Akhtar Iqbal Dar publicly disavowed the tickets issued to PTI candidates during a hastily arranged press conference in Lahore.

Subsequently, PTI introduced plan C, which primarily focused on the post-election scenario. The idea behind plan C was that independently elected candidates backed by PTI would join the party after the election, allowing PTI to stake a claim on reserved seats for women and minorities in the assemblies.

PTI leader and lawyer Salman Akram Raja disclosed some details about plan C during an interview with ARY’s Waseem Badami. Raja asserted that PTI-backed candidates would still be obligated to follow the instructions of PTI leaders, as they had declared themselves PTI members before the Returning Officers.

However, an in-depth examination of Election Rule 92 of the Election Rules 2017 reveals a different interpretation. The rules make it clear that independent candidates cannot join PTI because the party has not been assigned any electoral symbol.

Rule 92 outlines the formula for allocating reserved seats to political parties, stipulating that independent candidates who join a political party within three days of the publication of the names of the returned candidates in the official Gazette will be considered members of that party. Nevertheless, Rule 94 provides a crucial condition for a political party to be recognized: “For the purpose of this rule, the expression ‘political party’ means a political party to which a symbol has been allocated by the Commission.”

Consequently, a political entity without an assigned symbol cannot be officially considered a political party, and independent candidates cannot join it.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra, a PTI representative knowledgeable about election rules, acknowledged the existence of such rules but mentioned that the party is exploring various options including boycotting the poll.