By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD – – A founding member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday expressed doubts about the party’s internal elections, which are scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 2, and hinted that he might raise the issue with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Akbar S. Babar, who has been at odds with PTI chief Imran Khan for years over alleged financial irregularities and lack of transparency in the party, visited the PTI central secretariat in Islamabad along with other disgruntled members to seek information about the intra-party polls, nomination papers, and voter list.
“Many founding PTI members with us want to take part in this election and they want to know its procedures and that nomination papers be given to us so we can fully participate in tomorrow’s polls,” he told reporters.
However, he was informed by the secretariat staff that “they do not have nomination papers, voter list, and election rules”, leaving him “confused” about how he would participate in the polls.
The ECP, the country’s top electoral body, last week ordered the PTI to hold intra-party elections within 20 days to retain the bat as its poll symbol in the upcoming general elections, after it found that the party had violated its constitution by extending the tenure of its office-bearers without holding fresh polls.
Babar said he did not intend to make the intra-party polls controversial but added that the matter had become more serious after his visit and that the PTI’s symbol of the bat would fall into more jeopardy.
“Maybe it is our responsibility to present all these facts [of the irregularities] before the ECP,” he said, adding that it was “possible” he would approach the electoral watchdog himself.
“Unfortunately, this is not even an election. Have you seen any election before in which the electoral college or the voter list doesn’t even exist and where the election rules and nomination papers are not there?” he asked.
He claimed that the secretariat staff told him that the nomination process was just an “exercise on paper” to comply with the ECP’s order.
Khan, who is serving a prison sentence for corruption, will not contest the party elections, citing his legal problems and the risk of losing the party’s symbol.
He, a former cricket star who became the prime minister in 2018, was convicted in August by a trial court in Islamabad in a case involving concealing details of state gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure.
Khan was sentenced to three years in prison and disqualified from contesting general elections for five years. The Islamabad High Court suspended his sentence later that month, but he remains in jail in other cases, including cipher and land corruption cases.
The party said Barrister Gohar Ali Khan would contest the elections for party’s top position as a “stopgap arrangement”.
Gohar Khan, who submitted his nomination papers on Friday, is the only candidate for the slot of party chairman. A statement issued on the party’s official account on X said Gohar Khan’s nomination papers were received by Returning Officer Advocate Sardar Bharji Khan while PTI Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Advocate Niazullah Niazi was also present.
Babar had rejected Imran Khan’s nomination of Gohar Khan, calling it a “selection instead of an election”. In a press statement, he had said the nomination of the new PTI chairman had raised serious questions about the transparency and credibility of the entire intra-party election process. He had also proposed that the ECP appoint “observers” to monitor the polls.
The PTI has not yet responded to the allegations of Babar.
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