Intra-party elections: Justice Wajih demands reinstatement of PTI election chief

Calls for reversing changes made in party poll process


Qamar Zaman April 09, 2016
A file photo of Justice Wajihuddin. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: Days after Tasneem Noorani resigned as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Justice (retired) Wajihuddin Ahmed has demanded his restoration while putting question marks on changes made to the intra-party election process.

In a letter addressed to PTI Chairman Imran Khan, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, Justice Wajih argues that Noorani’s reinstatement as PTI CEC is important “if fair intra-party elections are to be held.”

Noorani, who had been appointed as PTI’s CEC in March 2015, resigned late last month after a deadlock over the party’s organisational structure for the upcoming intra-party elections scheduled for May.

Justice Wajih, who was tasked with probing irregularities in the party’s intra-party elections, termed Noorani’s resignation as a “sad day for PTI as an institution”. He added that the resignation was “prima facie engineered and precipitated. It may have no legal validity.”

He called the appointment of Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak as the new PTI CEC as smirking of “mala fides”.

“A sitting senator can hardly have time to lead the intra-party elections and, besides, may not be able to exhibit neutrality.”

Justice Wajih also criticised the mode of intra-party election chosen by Imran, adding that the PTI chairman was never authorised by the election tribunal to change election rules.


Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2016.

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