PTI polls: Ashan Rasheed yet to respond to CEC’s notice

Party leader allegedly violated code of conduct.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Ahsan Rasheed has yet to respond to charges that he violated the party’s code of conduct by portraying an event meant to boost his own chances in internal elections as an official party convention, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The PTI’s chief election commissioner (CEC), whose job is to oversee internal elections for party offices, had sought an explanation from Rasheed by December 6 regarding the Punjab Unity Workers’ Convention, which was held in the city on December 2.

CEC Hamid Khan had observed that the organisers of the convention had given party workers the impression that PTI Chairman Imran Khan would speak at the event, which was not true. Party officials and workers were made to think that they had to attend the convention as it was being organised by the PTI’s Punjab chapter, when it was actually organised by aides and allies of Rasheed as part of his campaign to win the seat of PTI Punjab president.

The advertisements for the convention, including posters, hand bills, brochures, banners and hoardings, bore the party’s logo, when only official party events were allowed this. No group within the party had the authority to use official PTI branding, Khan observed.



The convention’s organisers used the party’s name without legal authority as the hierarchy of office bearers had been disbanded ahead of the internal elections. The party’s central media cell had sent invitations to the media to cover the convention, which was also unauthorised.

Rasheed had been asked to respond by December 6, but he did not, the chief election commissioner told The Express Tribune.

He said that any penalty against Rasheed would be decided once he submitted his explanation and after it was established that the charges were correct.

Khan said that this was the first time that any such complaint had been made against Rasheed. It was likely that the penalty would be no more than a warning. He said it was important to take up the matter to deter others from violating the code of conduct and to ensure that the intraparty elections were free, fair and transparent.



Rasheed told The Tribune that he had not been able to respond since he had been in India, from where he returned on Thursday. He said he would submit his explanation within two days. He said that he had not violated the code of conduct. “I am a pioneering member of this party and know full well about the party discipline,” he said.

Rasheed’s main rival for the slot of PTI Punjab president is Ijaz Chaudhary. The workers’ convention was arranged by Aleem Khan, a real estate magnate and close ally of Rasheed’s. Both Rasheed and Aleem Khan addressed the convention.

As many as 2,000 people participated in the convention from across the province. The PTI leaders who participated included Umer Cheema, Hamad Azhar, Mian Hamid Meraj, Jamshaid Cheema, Shoaib Siddiqui, Mansha Sindhu, Dr Zarqa, Talat Naqvi, Sardar Arif Rasheed, Abdul Rasheed Bhatti, Dr Shahid Siddique, Nasrullah Moghal and Sardar Kamal Umer.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.