PTI urges ECP to publish party poll certificate

Party spokesperson censures interim information minister’s statement on party elections

ISLAMABAD:

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Monday urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to promptly publish the certificate for the party's recent intra-party polls, emphasizing that all requisite documents had been submitted to the supervisory body before the elections.

On Saturday, the former ruling party held its intra-party elections on the instructions of the election supervisor and elected Barrister Gohar as the party's new chairman.

The new party chairman was elected unopposed after being recently nominated for the post by ex-PTI chief Imran Khan.

However, the PML-N and the PPP cast aspersions on party’s intra-party polls, branding Barrister Gohar’s election as a "selection, not an election."

On Monday, Gohar demanded of the ECP to publish the PTI intra-party polls certificate “at the earliest”.
“All required documents of intra-party elections were filed before ECP today. As general election schedule is to be announced anytime soon. ECP ought to publish our certificate at the earliest this time,” the PTI chairman posted on social media platform X.

On November 23, the ECP had nullified PTI's intra-party elections conducted in June of the previous year, deeming them "highly objectionable".

Separately, the PTI censured interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi’s statement about the party intra-party elections.

A spokesperson of the party said the caretaker information minister’s remarks had unleased his “biased character”.

He was referring to Solangi’s interview to a private news channel, aired on Sunday, where the interim minister slammed the intra-party elections of the PTI.

To a query, the minister taking an apparent jibe at the PTI said the former ruling party wanted transparent elections across the country, and “ironically it did not want democracy within its own party”.

The spokesperson noted that the only constitutional responsibility of the interim government was to conduct fair and transparent elections in the country, adding that the current setup had “completely failed” and become “unconstitutional and illegal”.

“Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi has no constitutional and moral justification for rhetoric against the internal affairs of any political party,” he observed.

The spokesperson highlighted that the PTI was the “only political party” in the country that was the bearer of the Constitution and democracy, while rejecting the concept of dynastic politics.

Meanwhile, the PTI core committee in its meeting on Monday declared that party’s founder Imran Khan would remain its chairman for lifetime, adding that the post had already been allocated for him.