PTI Chairman fails to attend ECP hearing on Intra-Party Polls Case

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) failed to appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday, despite being issued a final notice regarding the party’s failure to conduct intra-party elections.

The ECP had summoned the PTI chief and warned that failure to appear could result in the party being declared ineligible to obtain an election symbol for future polls, under Section 215 (5) of the Elections Act, 2017.

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PTI’s lawyer, Barrister Gohar Ali, represented the party before the panel, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, and requested a postponement of the hearing.

The lawyer argued that the election records could not be submitted because the PTI had conducted elections before amendments were made to the intra-party polls law.

According to an ECP member, the PTI chief claimed that the constitutional amendment was passed on June 8 and intra-party elections were held on June 10.

Referring to Section 209(1) of the Election Act, the ECP pointed out that every registered political party was obligated to provide the commission with a certificate confirming the holding of its intra-party polls.

The PTI’s intra-party elections were initially scheduled to take place on June 13, 2021, as per the party’s constitution. In May of the previous year, the ECP issued a show-cause notice to Imran Khan for his failure to hold intra-party elections within his capacity as the party’s chairman.

Following the PTI’s request, the ECP extended the deadline for the intra-party elections until June 13, 2022. However, the party failed to conduct the polls even by the extended date.

The lawyer later requested the electoral watchdog to adjourn the hearing, and the CEC adjourned the proceedings until August 8 (Monday).

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