ISLAMABAD: Having rejected the PTI intra-party polls on procedural grounds in the past, the ECP has now stated that the conduct of intra-party elections on part of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) beyond the five-year stipulated period could entail “consequences”— whereas party Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has hoped that electoral body would not create “further hurdles” in accepting the PTI intra-party elections, saying his party conducted best polls among all the political parties.
“PTI is the only political party that held best intra-party elections among 175 political parties of the country— our party polls were held in all the four provinces and Islamabad,” he told the media outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headquarters, after the hearing of PTI intra-party elections case on Wednesday.
“We hope that the ECP would not create further hurdles as far as the intra-party elections are concerned, and the matter would be resolved on 2 October,” he said, referring to the next date of the case hearing.
“The ECP should avoid raising questions as per its will, and follow the constitution and the law,” he added.
“I have submitted documents to the ECP confirming my position as party chairman,” Khan said.
Earlier, the chairman PTI appeared before a three-member ECP bench that heard the intra-party elections case.
Khan sought from the bench seven to 10-day time to retrieve record from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), related to the case that was confiscated in a raid at the party’s Central Secretariat in July.
The bench members inquired from the ECP Political Finance Wing officials about the consequences for PTI in case it refused to accept the PTI intra-party elections again. The officials responded that the PTI’s organisational structure would cease to function if the bench decided against the political party in this case. “You have not held the intra-party elections for five years, there could be consequences,” Justice Ikramullah Khan (retd), one of the bench members, told the PTI chief.
The chairman PTI responded that his party conducted the “most transparent” polls across Pakistan in accordance with the law.
The case was adjourned till 2 October.
Nisar Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi, and Justice Ikram Ullah Khan (retd) heard the case.
Earlier, Monday, the ECP fixed the PTI intra-party case for hearing on Wednesday— two days after it received a strong rebuke from the Supreme Court in the reserved seats case.
“Having itself recognised Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as the Chairman of PTI, the Commission cannot now turn around and purport to seek guidance from the Court with regard to how the certifications are to be dealt with. The Commission cannot approbate and reprobate, taking whatever (shifting) stance as it desires and as may seem to suit its immediate purposes for the moment,” read a four-page clarification order issued by the majority judges in the reserved seats case.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024