The Election Commission of Pakistan on Saturday directed the returning officers to reject applications where a member of a political party seeks the election symbol of another party.

“A contesting candidate, before seeking allotment of a prescribed symbol, shall file a declaration before the Returning Officer about his affiliation with a particular political party, if any, along with a certificate from the political party showing that he is that party’s candidate from the constituency,” the ECP said in its order.

The electoral watchdog said several applications were received in which “many interested candidates are intending to violate law and deceive the Election Commission and in clear term violate the affidavit already given with their nomination papers.”

The ECP said that it was mandatory for candidates to file an affidavit to verify an oath form as well as prove their affiliation with the political party whose election symbol they were seeking in their applications.

It went on to add that candidates who were members of a party and were seeking another party’s election symbol were acting against the Election Act 2017.