ECP reserved verdict against PTI intra-party elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved its verdict on petitions challenging the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) intra-party elections.

A five-member commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, conducted the hearing today.

The ECP ordered PTI to conduct polls within 20 days. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) elected Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as the party’s new chairman.The new party chairman was elected unopposed after being recently nominated for the post by ex-PTI chief Imran Khan.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S Babar along others, seeking to nullify the “fraudulent and rigged” intra-party polls.

Read Also : PTI to hold fresh intra-party elections or lose “bat” symbol : Election Commission

PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar argued that the party’s chairman tenure in office was five years, and the panel’s duration was three years.

He stressed that intra-party polls were unnecessary when a chairman was elected unopposed, pointing out that no law provided clarification on the process of intra-party polls, adding that people are also elected unopposed in general elections, which is not illegal.

PTI’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar said the procedure to conduct intra-party polls is not mentioned in the PTI’s constitution, said Zafar, arguing that the matter was left to the party. “Every party has an option either to do ad hoc or make rules,” he said.

Akbar S Babar said that the PTI, being a public entity and not a private one, was fully subject to the Constitution, arguing if intra-party polls were conducted without opposition, genuine public representatives might not emerge.

Subsequently, the PTI counsel urged the ECP to dismiss all petitions challenging the intra-party polls of the PTI. After hearing arguments from all sides, the ECP reserved its verdict on the pleas.