Other parties addressed internal poll objections: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday said apart from the PTI, objections were raised over other political parties’ internal polls as well but they removed them.

A five-member Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) bench chaired by the CEC held a hearing in connection with the petitions seeking the annulment of the results of the PTI’s intra-party polls.

The lawyers representing petitioners Raja Tahir Abbasi and estranged PTI founding member Akbar S Babar sought the annulment of the party’s internal polls maintaining that they were held in a manner that lacked transparency.

PTI lawyer and senator, Barrister Ali Zafar, retorted that the party’s internal polls were held on the ECP’s directives.

He added that the new PTI chairman was elected as per the Constitution and law.

The petitioners’ lawyers argued that in its submission, the PTI had mentioned the panel but not the votes.

The ECP Sindh member noted that how could the party mention the votes when their panelists were elected unopposed.

The petitioner, Babar, demanded that the intra-party elections of the PTI should be held again under the supervision of the ECP.

The lawyers representing the other petitioners including Mehmood Khan and Saba Zahid also supported Babar’s suggestion.

The PTI lawyer argued that according to the party’s constitution, if a single panel came out, there was no need for voting.
ECP Punjab member Babar Hassan Bharwana asked Zafar if all this was in the PTI’s constitution.

The PTI lawyer replied in the affirmative and read out Article 5 of the party’s constitution where it was contained.
He further contended that ECP had not recognised the amendment made to the PTI’s constitution to hold the elections through show of hands.

Zafar added that the PTI had held its intra-party polls in accordance with its 2019 constitution as per the order of the ECP.

The ECP bench adjourned the hearing of the case till Monday after the arguments of all the petitioners related to the PTI intra-party elections were completed.

At the previous hearing, the CEC observed that the PTI had not held intra-party elections in five years and these polls were held only on the ECP's order.

Zafar urged the bench to first decide whether the petitions against the PTI’s internal polls were even maintainable or not.
He said the PTI had reservations over the ECP’s order to hold intra-party polls.

However, the party held these elections as per its order. He said the ECP was supposed to issue a certificate to the party within seven days after the election.

“As the seven-day period has elapsed today, the ECP cannot further delay the certification.

The ECP should issue our certificate immediately,” he said, adding that the commission’s credibility was at risk because of this delay.