Gohar, Omar again elected PTI chairman, general secretary

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s federal election commissioner Raoof Hasan formally announced on Sunday that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub Khan had been elected as the party’s chairman and secretary general unopposed, respectively, in the intra-party polls.

During a news conference here, Raoof Hasan said PTI’s Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa election commissioners would formally announce the results of the provincial presidents while election for the slot of Balochistan president was underway.

He explained the PTI intra-party elections were held for the third time as per the guidelines set by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Ashraf Jabbar and Muhammad Aslam, who voluntarily withdrew their candidature for the slot of PTI chairman, and returning officers for conducting the chairman and secretary general elections, Ayesha Khalid and Amina Ali, were also present on the occasion.

Raoof Hasan said Gohar Ali Khan was elected as the PTI chairman unopposed after three other candidates withdrew their nominations whereas the panel of Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub was nominated by the PTI founder Imran Khan.

The PTI election commissioner said four candidates filed their nomination papers for the slot of chairman PTI; nomination papers of three candidates were accepted and one rejected.

He pointed out that Naveed Anjum’s nomination papers were rejected because he contested the general election 2024 as an opponent of PTI supported candidate and, therefore, his party membership was cancelled by the district president on February 11, 2024.

“As per PTI’s constitution, in order to be eligible to contest intra-party elections, it is mandatory to have uninterrupted six-month PTI membership; however, Naveed got himself registered again as PTI member on February 24, 2024 to contest the intra-party election,” he added.

Similarly, Raoof Hasan said that they received only one nomination paper for secretary general’s position. Therefore, Omar Ayub-led panel of 15 members was declared victorious uncontested. He successfully retained the position of PTI’s secretary general once again.

Sharing the results of Punjab, he declared that Dr Yasmin Rashid led panel for the position of president of Punjab was declared winner unopposed because two other panels, one led by Asad Hanif and the other by Muhammad Khan Madni, withdrew their nomination papers.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, he announced that there was only one panel, led by Ali Amin Gandapur, for the provincial president’s slot. Therefore, Gandapur was announced as the PTI KP president uncontested.

He announced that Haleem Adil Sheikh was elected party’s Sindh president uncontested because Khawand Bakhsh-led panel was disqualified as one of its members Zaheer Muhammad Babar did not comply with PTI’s policy, who campaigned for the GDA, JUI and an independent candidate during the general election 2024. Hence, Raoof said that he was suspended and declared ineligible to contest for any party position.

However, he said that election was held only for the position of PTI’s Balochistan president, adding that there were six panels in the field, out of which two panels voluntarily withdrew their nomination papers while nomination papers of one was rejected. He said that there were three panels in the electoral battle, vying for the provincial party president’s slot i.e. Dr Muneer Baloch, Aminullah Jogezai and Dawood Shah Kakar.

Raoof Hasan stated that there was a total of 11,940 votes, out of which 940 were polled. However, he added that out of the polled votes, 937 were valid while three votes were rejected. He declared that Dr Muneer Baloch secured 435 votes, Aminullah Jogezai 57 and Dawood Shah Kakar got 445 votes. As a result, Dawood Kakar’s panel ‘Insaf Noujawan’ was declared victorious.

Meanwhile, Ashraf Jabbar, a candidate for the PTI chairman’s slot, said: “I am a founding member of PTI and I voluntarily withdrew my nomination papers in favour of Barrister Gohar, because he was the nominee of PTI chairman-for-life Imran Khan.” He said the PTI and nation’s first demand from Barrister Gohar, after his election as the party chairman, was that no stone should be left unturned to ensure the release of Imran Khan at the earliest.

Dr Muhammad Aslam, who was also the founding member of the party, said he withdrew his nomination papers because it was time they should work like a unit to deal with the challenges. He said around 90 per cent of representatives of the ‘fake government’ reached parliament through results tampering, which was unacceptable and condemnable. He demanded that the election results should be announced as per form 45 and people should be given their stolen mandate forthwith.