Founding member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Akbar S. Babar filed a petition in the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday challenging the intra-party polls of the party, terming it ‘sham’ and ‘deceitful’.
Babar alleged that not only were the PTI’s intra-party elections fraudulent, but also a failed attempt to deceive and manipulate the ECP which violated Section 208 and sub-clause 2 of the Election Act 2017. He further claimed that the intra-party elections deprived members of PTI of their right to vote and participate in the polls.
Citing Section 208 of the Election Act, 2017, the PTI leader also submitted video footage and further evidence to the ECP.
Requesting the ECP to order new intra-party elections and appoint a neutral third party to monitor the polls, Babar urged the commission to disallow the party the use of the ‘bat’ symbol until transparent elections are held.
In the application, he informed the commission that the press release issued by the PTI core committee on November 30, announcing that the intra-party elections of chairmanship would be held on December 2 in which Niaziullah Nazi was appointed as the chief election commissioner of intra-party elections, while at the federal level, the name of the appointed was not revealed.
The party, on the instructions of ECP to hold intra-party polls within 20 days to retain the bat as PTI’s symbol, conducted an intra-party election on December 2 in which Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed as PTI’s new chairman, replacing the former premier.
