LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday announced the results of its intra-party elec-tions, with Barrister Gohar Ali Khan securing the chairmanship uncontested, according to Raoof Has-san, the party’s Central Information Secretary and Federal Election Commissioner.
In a press briefing, Hassan disclosed the outcomes of the elections, revealing that Omar Ayub has clinched the role of Central General Secretary, and Dr Yasmin Rashid has been acclaimed as the unop-posed President of Punjab.
The elections also saw Ali Amin Gandapur emerging as the elected President of PTI for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), with Noorul Haq Qadri and Arbab Jahandad Khan being elected as vice presidents for PTI in K-P.
PTI K-P Election Commissioner Qazi Anwar Advocate confirmed Gandapur’s victory, emphasising the lack of opposition as no other panel submitted nomination papers.
In other appointments, Ali Asghar Khan and Irfan Saleem have assumed the roles of General Secretary and Additional General Secretary respectively, while Fakhar Zaman has been elected as Deputy Gen-eral Secretary. Joint secretaries include Daniyal Khan Jadoon, Khaista Mehmood, and Taimoor Khalid.
Responding to queries regarding the electoral symbol “bat”, stripped from PTI by the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP), Hassan clarified that the decision stemmed from a petition filed by founding member Akbar S Babar. Hassan affirmed that Babar had not submitted any nominations for the intra-party elections but mentioned that his eligibility would be considered should he engage with the party.
Hassan reiterated that PTI had conducted its intra-party elections in compliance with the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Among the contenders for the Chairman’s Panel, Ashraf Jabbar Qureshi and Aslam were present. Qureshi, a founding member, announced his withdrawal in favour of Barrister Gohar, expressing con-fidence in his leadership and the party’s efforts for the release of founder chairman Imran Khan from jail.
Meanwhile, Aslam, also a founding member, condemned May 9 and February 9 incidents and de-manded transparency in the release of general election results.
The PTI held the intra-party elections after a long battle in the run-up to the February 8 general elec-tions, when it was stripped of its electoral symbol of “bat” by the ECP, a decision endorsed by the Su-preme Court.
Intra-party election is required under the Election Act. The last elections were held in the PTI during June 2016 with the next elections due in June 2021. However, in response to ECP’s notice, the party stated that it had failed to hold the elections due to the Covid-19 pandemic and asked for a year’s time.
The party conducted its elections on June 8, 2022, but the ECP refused to accept the elections. After long proceedings in the ECP, the PTI conducted the intra-party election again on December 2, 2023. However, these elections were also challenged in the ECP.
The ECP again ruled that the elections were not held according to the party’s constitution and decided to strip the party PTI of its electoral symbol. PTI termed the order of ECP as “deeply flawed” and chal-lenged it in both the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Peshawar High Court (PHC)
On January 13, 2024, less than a month before the 2024 elections, a three-member Supreme Court bench affirmed the ECP’s decision, overturning a previous PHC reversal. Following the apex court deci-sion, PTI candidates contested the elections as independent candidates. –Agencies
