ISTANBUL 

Candidates for former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have been barred from using its iconic cricket bat electoral symbol while contesting the Feb. 8 national elections, which could cause confusion among voters and result in a loss of reserved seats in national and provincial legislatures.

The party’s candidates have been forced to run as independents after a weekend order by the Supreme Court.

While there have been attempts to postpone the elections, the Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday rejected a resolution passed by the Senate earlier this month seeking a delay, saying all arrangements have been completed and it will not be advisable to put them off.

At the Supreme Court, the PTI also withdrew its plea to seek contempt proceedings against the election commission, which it accused of not providing the party with a “level playing field” – a general term that implies equal opportunity for all participating parties.

“We came seeking a level playing field, but you took away the ‘field’ itself," senior lawyer and PTI leader Latif Khosa told Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa.

“We will go to the court of the people,” said Khosa, after listening to Isa's comments.

​​​​​​​The PTI stands for the Pakistan Movement for Justice, and Khan is currently in jail facing dozens of cases, including one in which he is accused of exposing state secrets.

Isa announced the ruling to deny the PTI’s electoral symbol in a live late night telecast of the proceedings on Saturday on the top court's website.

The cricket bat has been used since Khan was a star cricketer who won the Pakistan World Cup in 1992.

The court ruled that the PTI was ineligible to retain the symbol due to its failure to conduct intraparty elections according to the country’s election laws.

Some say the absence of the cricket bat could cause public confusion, particularly among illiterate voters who mostly rely on party symbols.

The top court’s move also robs the PTI of the right to have its people elected on reserved seats for women and minorities.

“There is serious concern over the decision of the Supreme Court to deprive Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of its electoral symbol, a major political party, a few days before the general elections in the country. If there is no transparency in the elections, important questions may arise at the national and international level," said the Human Rights Council of Pakistan in reacting against the top court’s decision.

Khan’s party has accused the interim government, mandated to hold polls, of “several unlawful and unconstitutional tactics…to ensure that the country’s largest and most popular political party is kept out of power through any means possible.”

The government has rejected such accusations.

The country of around 250 million people is expected to hold general elections on Feb. 8, with around 127 million eligible voters choosing lawmakers for the 342-seat National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.

Of these, 272 lawmakers are directly elected for a term of five years, while 60 seats are reserved for women, along with 10 seats for religious minorities.

The elections will be concurrently held in four provinces of the country.