PTI to hold intra-party polls 'within a fortnight'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to hold fresh intra-party polls within a fortnight during a general body meeting, sources said on Wednesday.

The decision comes in the light of a Supreme Court judgement earlier this month, which declared the PTI's intra-party polls — held ahead of the upcoming general elections — "illegal".

The party meeting took place virtually, with several senior leaders including former PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and information Secretary General Umar Ayub and information secretary Rauf Hassan in attendance, due to the blockade of roads leading to the PTI secretariat in Islamabad.

Sources said that a resolution on the party's internal polls has to be presented in the meeting, which was attended by leaders and members from Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad and other leaders.

Another major decision taken during the meeting was the appointment of Hassan as the federal chief election commissioner of the party, a statement issued by Ayub read.

Earlier, Geo News reported that the ways leading to the central media secretariat of PTIwas blocked by the federal capital police.

The police were reportedly present on all routes leading to the party's media secretariat ahead of the PTI's general body meeting.

The increased police presence near the secretariat came in the wake of the party's founder, Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi's conviction in the Toshakhana reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The two were sentenced to 14 years with rigorous punishment by an accountability court in Islamabad earlier in the day. 

Earlier this month, the apex court deprived PTI of its election symbol — 'bat' — by upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) order barring the party from keeping its iconic symbol for the upcoming February 8 elections.

The electoral body had cited irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party's own constitution and election laws.

As PTI currently fares without a party head, it is crucial for it to hold the internal polls to elect a chairman in order to have the status of a political party under the Election Act (2017), so that all the candidates it has fielded for the upcoming polls can unite under a single platform post elections.

Pakistan will witness crucial yet controversial elections this time around owing to the instability on the country's political and economic fronts.

The polls, slated to be held on February 8, will see major political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and others compete for seats in the National and provincial assemblies, almost all granted their iconic electoral symbols, while PTI remains out of the electoral arena this time with their candidates competing across the country as independent with each contesting through a different symbol.