PML-N finally kicks off campaign
\nIn Okara, Maryam alleges PTI\u2019s electoral symbol should be a \u201cdanda that the party used against the state\u201d.
\nIn an apparent reference to the PTI, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz on Monday said a \u201cterrorist party\u201d could not be allotted an electoral symbol as her party kicked off its poll campaign in Okara.
\nAfter much delay, the PML-N is finally set to unveil its manifesto for the February 8 general elections. For the last two months, the party\u2019s over 30 different sub-committees have been sitting together to prepare its poll manifesto.
\nPML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had been perturbed by his party being labelled as the \u2018favourite\u2019 of the establishment, an impression he desperately wanted to dispel during the election campaign, an insider had told Dawn earlier.
\nFurther, the delay in the launch of the polls campaign was primarily caused by the PML-N\u2019s long deliberations in ticket distribution and seat adjustment with the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) and PML-Q.
\nAddressing party supporters in Okara today, Maryam \u2014 without mentioning the PTI \u2014 said: \u201cSher [tiger] can be allotted sher, but a terrorist party cannot be allotted an election symbol like other political parties.\u201d
\n\u201cYou say your electoral symbol was \u2018bat\u2019, no, it was the danda [baton] that you had in your hand. The danda that you used against the state of Pakistan and the public,\u201d Maryam claimed.
\nHer remarks come just days after the PTI was stripped of its iconic electoral symbol \u2018bat\u2019. After marathon hearings over the weekend, the Supreme Court had on Saturday upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s decision to revoke the party\u2019s electoral symbol and reject its internal election just a few days before polls.
\n\u201cToday, what is happening to the PTI is a result of their own actions,\u201d Maryam said of the recent \u201chue and cry\u201d over the electoral symbol.
\n\u201cThere was a danda, not a bat, in your hands and the entire nation saw how you attacked military installations [\u2026] now say, what is your electoral symbol? It should have been the watch that you stole or the petrol bomb that you used against the police,\u201d she claimed.
\nThe PML-N leader asserted that the nation would not allow a political party to manipulate its internal elections and \u201cescape without any consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PML-N finally kicks off campaign In Okara, Maryam alleges PTI\u2019s electoral symbol should be a \u201cdanda that the party used against the state\u201d. In an apparent reference to the PTI, PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz on Monday said a \u201cterrorist party\u201d could not be allotted an electoral symbol as her party kicked off its poll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[688],"class_list":{"0":"post-380972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-maryam-nawaz"},"yoast_head":"\n