by Javid ur Rahman in The Nation, Dec 9, 2023
ISLAMABAD – The top election body has rejected Akbar S. Babar’s appeal for the re-conduct of the recently conducted intra-party elections of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
The ECP’s five-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja announced this decision after hearing the case.
The bench heard a series of petitions filed by PTI founding members Akbar S. Babar, Tahir Nawaz, Noreen Farooq, and others, challenging the PTI intra-party polls. The secretary of election regulatory body Umar Hameed Khan, the petitioners, and other concerned parties appeared before the commission. In the proceedings, the bench focused over the clarity of Section 215 of the Election Act. The commission dismissed Babar’s plea, stating that the re-conduct of the PTI intra-party elections should be forgotten.
Petitioner Raja Tahir Nawaz Abbasi’s lawyer argued that under the Constitution every person should get a chance to contest the intra-party elections. He claimed that intra-party elections were held at a secret place in Peshawar. Some of the contestants were in jail despite that they submitted nomination papers and elected party officials. He termed the election process fake and requested that the election should be declared null and void. The commission issued a notice to the PTI for a hearing on December 12 and adjourned the case.
https://www.nation.com.pk/E-Paper/lahore/2023-12-09/page-1/detail-5
