ECP reserves judgment on plea seeking removal of Imran as party chair

PTI’s counsel contends issue of party's chairmanship is invalidated as party has elected new chairman

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reserved judgment on a petition seeking the removal of Imran Khan as the party's chairman.

Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, leading a five-member bench, presided over the hearing today. PTI’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen and petitioner Khalid Mehmood appeared before the commission.

PTI’s counsel contended to the bench that the issue of PTI’s chairmanship was invalidated as the party had elected its new chairman. He further contended that the petition should be dismissed as the record of a recent intra-party election had been submitted to the ECP.

The party, on the instructions of ECP to hold intra-party polls within 20 days to retain the bat as PTI's symbol, conducted an intra-party election on December 2 in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed as PTI’s new chairman, replacing the former premier.

The chief election commissioner (CEC) of intra-party elections, Niaziullah Niazi had announced the results from a polling station in Peshawar and that all candidates had been elected unanimously in the polls.

Today, advocate Shaheen remarked that if the ECP wants to pursue this issue further then it should do so by allowing PTI leader Akbar S Babar to file a petition.

Read Many legal loopholes in PTI intra-party polls

To this, the CEC opined that by permitting Khalid Mehmood to file a petition, he is being given the chance to file a plea against the new chairman as well.

On Sunday, the party's founding member, Akbar S. Babar intensified his rhetoric against 'bogus' intra-party elections, lamenting that he, along with other founding members, were sidelined and deprived of their constitutional rights to contest the elections.

During the session today, petitioner Mehmood requested the bench to write in the judgement that the former prime minister was convicted and therefore, could not hold any official position.

Remarking that Imran had not contested in the intra-party election, the CEC said that the commission was not in the position to say anything.

Last year in November, the former premier was found guilty of ‘corrupt practices’ and for not submitting accurate details of the gifts to the ECP in the Toshakhana case by a session court in Islamabad.

Imran was awarded a three-year jail time and was declared ineligible to hold public office for five years.