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- May 31, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
The PTI intra-party election case was delisted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because the bench was not available. In a notice posted on its website, the Election Commission of Pakistan stated, “It is circulated for the information of the general public and the litigants that the following cases fixed for hearing before the honorable Election Commission of Pakistan on 30.05.24 have been delisted due to non-availability of the bench and the next date of hearing will be announced later.” “Non-conduct of intra-party elections of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf” is the first of three cases listed in the notice. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the chairman of the PTI, and Raoof Hassan, the party’s main federal election commissioner, were both given notice of the hearing on Thursday.
In November 2023, after the matter had been dragged out for over a year and a half, the ECP declared the June 9, 2022, PTI intraparty elections invalid. By an order dated November 23, 2023, the ECP granted the previous ruling party 20 days to hold new elections to retain the bat as its electoral emblem. Around two months before the general elections, political parties were intensifying their efforts nationwide, coinciding with the ECP’s directive. Within ten days, on December 2, 2023, the PTI conducted intra-party elections to preserve its recognizable poll symbol.
After receiving the PTI’s objections, the ECP eventually sent a questionnaire to the party inquiring about its situation following its “loss of organizational structure and election symbol” as well as details regarding intra-party elections. Two weeks prior, the PTI had urged the Election Commission to formally recognize the most recent intra-party elections in a thorough response to seven inquiries from the ECP. Raoof Hasan, the federal chief election commissioner for the party, responded by stating that the PTI was a legitimate political party that had registered with the ECP following Section 202 of the Election Act of 2017.
To allay the concerns of ECP, the statement stated, “There is no provision in the Election Act, 2017 or in the Election Rules, 2017 that an enlisted party would lose its ‘organizational structure’ after the expiration of five years if no lPE are held within five years.” The PTI, it stated, held its IPE on June 9, 2022, but on November 23, 2023, the ECP ordered that the PTI hold its IPE under its “prevalent constitution” (the 2019 Constitution). The PTI’s general body, consisting of all its members in Pakistan, met on January 31 to discuss organizing these elections. FEC was also assigned to hold IPE as soon as feasible after the general body secured the necessary approval.
Then, on February 21, PTI notified the ECP of all the actions done to hold the IPE in light of the general body’s approvals. According to the statement, the PTI’s constitution was upheld by the ECP on March 2, which also instructed the party to move forward with holding the IPE. In light of this, the IPE was convened on March 3 and documentation was submitted to the ECP. The PTI stated that as a result, it is still an enlisted political party and that as such, it is still able to exercise its legal rights per the applicable laws, such as Article 17 of the Constitution, the Elections Act of 2017, and the Election Rules of 2017.