The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday rejected Salman Akram Raja’s appeal to declare him a candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Form-33.

The ECP in its reserved verdict stated that Raja is not listed as a PTI candidate on Form-33 as it had not allotted an election symbol to the party.

It is pertinent to mention that the lawyer filed the plea to avoid being declared an independent candidate and instead be recognized as a PTI candidate.

The electoral watchdog said that Raja has been listed as an independent candidate and cannot be mentioned as a PTI candidate as the election rules state that a political party must have an election symbol.

Raja, similar to all PTI-backed candidates, will contest the election from the National Assembly constituency NA-128 as an independent candidate, with the electoral symbol ‘Racket’.

The ECP mentioned that the former ruling party failed to conduct its intra-party election after which it stripped the party of its election symbol.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld the decision of the ECP, stating that the party could not conduct an intra-party election according to the Election Act, 2017.