Pakistan

Imran's removal from party’s chairmanship sought

Petitioner said no one could be party head after facing disqualification

Rana Yasif April 04, 2023

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan at the Lahore High Court on Friday, March 24, 2023.—Photo: Screengrab

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir on Tuesday referred a plea seeking the removal of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan from the party’s chairmanship to LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti.

Petitioner Muhammad Junaid had contended in his petition that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had disqualified Imran from the National Assembly seat NA-95 Mianwali.

Further, the petitioner noted that the ECP had disqualified Imran in the Toshakhana case on October 21, 2022.

He stated that a court had also disqualified Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, after which he was no longer the chief of his party. No one could be the head of a party after being disqualified, he added.

The petitioner submitted that he had contacted the ECP regarding Imran's removal from his party’s chairmanship but his efforts were "all in vain".

He then knocked on the doors of the LHC requesting it to pass directions to remove the former prime minister from his party’s chairmanship.

Read LHC adjourns Imran’s party chairmanship plea

In December, the ECP initiated proceedings to strip the PTI chief of his party’s chairmanship following his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference.

The ECP scheduled the hearing to remove the former prime minister as the party chief and issued him a notice for the same.

PTI General Secretary Asad Umar said the party would challenge the legitimacy of the notice, adding that the ECP had no authority to remove Imran Khan as party chairman.

Imran filed a petition challenging the notice in the LHC which was passed to the chief justice with a request to form a larger bench for its hearing. He had also filed an identical petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The LHC bench noted that the Mianwali constinuency falls under the LHC's jurisdiction and adjourned the hearing indefinitely till the withdrawal of the PTI chief's plea from the IHC.