ECP summons details of intra-party polls from PTI
December 13, 2017
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) summoned on Wednesday details of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s intra-party elections.
Hearing the petition filed by the PTI's founding member, Yousuf Ali, on the alleged discrepancies in its recently held intra-party polls; the ECP has summoned details of results, candidates, and votes.
Ali, a former general secretary of the PTI’s Swabi chapter, had filed the petition before the ECP and asked the commission to declare the election null and void on the grounds that the polling process had violated the party’s constitution.
No representative of PTI appeared before the ECP tribunal being headed by Cheif Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza today.
The hearing has been adjourned until December 18.
The ECP has already reserved its verdict on Ali's petition.
In the last hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer told the ECP that the PTI had arranged fake intra-party polls in violation of the party constitution.
He said the elections were held on June 12 and the party had amended its constitution on May 13. The petitioner's counsel said that the PTI had not completed the necessary legal formalities while amending the constitution.
He said the party’s constitution can only be changed if there is a two-thirds majority of the Central Executive Council supporting it. As per the amended constitution, 2.7 million voters had to decide between PTI Chairman Imran Khan or party leader Naik Muhammad Khan.
No party member was allowed to choose anybody besides the two side: the Insaf panel and the Ehtesab panel.
Babar Awan, the PTI's counsel, had argued that the petition could not be heard by the ECP as the intra-party elections could not be challenged via an election petition.
He said that the petitioner had nothing to do with the PTI’s intra-party elections and that the elections were held in a transparent manner.
