Islamabad — In a decisive move, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) dismissed the petition filed by former PTI member Akbar S. Babar, calling for the re-conduction of intra-party elections. The ECP, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising a five-member panel, deliberated on 14 petitions challenging the PTI intra-party elections conducted on December 2.
During the hearing, Babar’s lawyer, Ali Hassan, contended that the PTI hastily formed an election commission just two days before the polls, with no issued voter’s list. Responding to queries about Article 5 of the PTI constitution, which emphasizes closed-room election conduct, the lawyer faced a rebuke from a commission member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “This is a serious matter, and you are joking,” the member retorted.
What does Babar want?
Babar, a founding member of the PTI, not only sought a redo of the elections but also urged the commission to suspend the newly elected PTI members. Hassan asserted that his client was denied nomination papers at the party secretariat, where no scrutiny of nomination papers occurred, and no final list of candidates was issued.
Commission member Karamullah, citing Section 215 of the Election Act, emphatically stated that the plea for re-election was untenable.
In a parallel argument presented by petitioner Raja Tahir Nawaz Abbasi’s lawyer, the focus shifted to constitutional rights, asserting that every individual should have the opportunity to contest intra-party elections. Allegations were made that the elections were conducted at a clandestine location in Peshawar, with some candidates in jail despite having submitted nomination papers.
The lawyer labeled the election process as fraudulent and called for the annulment of the results. The commission subsequently issued a notice to the PTI and adjourned the hearing until December 12.
As the controversy surrounding the PTI intra-party elections deepens, the ECP’s decisive rejection sets the stage for further legal battles and political maneuvering within the party. The intricacies of constitutional provisions and allegations of irregularities add complexity to an already contentious electoral process.
certainly like your web site but you have to test the spelling
on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I
to find it very troublesome to inform the reality however I’ll surely come again again.