ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) pleas seeking deferment of the hearing of the case regarding its intra-party polls till the Supreme Court provides clarification on its July 12 ruling on the reserved seats matter. In its decision, the ECP maintained that the PTI had already delayed the issue of intra-party polls a lot and it wouldn’t be appropriate to defer the matter any further.
The ruling, reserved on August 27, was announced by the electoral body’s three-member bench comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani, Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Justice (retd) Ikram Ullah.
The development comes as the Imran Khan-founded party had filed a plea in the ECP seeking a delay in hearing of the intra-party elections issue and had also challenged its jurisdiction over the matter.
It is to be noted that the government body had taken up the matter after the apex court’s full bench declared the party eligible for the allocation of reserved seats.
The months-long intra-party polls saga dates back to last year when the ECP revoked the party’s bat symbol over unlawful elections within the party. –Agencies
