ECP adjourns hearing in PTI intra-party polls till March 4

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Tuesday claimed to have furnished its response to the five petitioners with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

However, one of the petitioners, Akbar S Babar, disputed the claim saying no reply to his petition had been filed so far. A three-member bench of the Election Commission, headed by the chief election commissioner, resumed hearing in the PTI’s intra-party elections. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Akbar S Babar and other petitioners appeared before the forum. Gohar requested for grant of time so that the entire record of party polls exercise, including software and hardware, should be with them at the time of arguments. He said they had filed replies to the five petitioners and needed time to get hold of record from the FIA, which had taken away during its raid on their central office. To this, the Election Commission adjourned hearing till March 4. The petitioners are expected to give arguments in relation to their petitions in the next hearing followed by counter-arguments by the PTI. Talking to the media outside the Election Commission Secretariat, Gohar said the five petitioners had not participated in the party elections, while out of over 0.85 million registered party voters, none had complained about the level-playing field. He pointed out that one of the petitioners, who was an associate of Akbar S Babar and filed an application to contest for the chairman’s seat was thrown out of the party long ago. He reiterated that the party election was held on March 3 and it was clean and transparent adding that those who held the party elections after them got the clearance certificate, but they were yet to get it. However, he was hopeful that now they would also be issued the certificate.

“We had already submitted answers to the seven questions of the Election Commission. Today, we submitted written responses to the applications of the five petitioners,” he noted. About the appointment of new chief election commissioner and two ECP members, he explained that the names of the new chief election commissioner and two members were being considered.

He emphasized that the current chief election commissioner and two members had completed their constitutional term but were continuing under the 26th Amendment. He regretted that the process of making new appointments in the electoral body had not started yet.