By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Barrister Gohar Khan, a loyalist of the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, was re-elected as the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Sunday, after facing no challengers in the latest round of internal elections.
The PTI announced the results of its intra-party polls at a press conference in Islamabad, where its spokesperson and chief election commissioner, Raoof Hasan, declared Khan the winner by default.
This was the third time in two years that the PTI had conducted internal elections, following legal disputes and controversies over its previous attempts. The party had to hold new polls after the Supreme Court revoked its electoral symbol, a bat, in December 2023, following conflicting rulings by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Peshawar High Court. Following the apex court decision, less than a month before the February 8 elections, PTI candidates had contested the elections as independent candidates.
Khan, who had been elected as the PTI chairman for the first time in the December 2023 elections, was nominated again by Imran Khan, the party’s founder and former leader, who is serving a jail term on corruption charges. The party’s founder had initially nominated another barrister, Ali Zafar, for the top post, but he declined the offer, citing personal reasons.
Hasan said that four candidates had applied for the chairman’s position, but only three were accepted. The fourth candidate, Naveed Anjum Khan, was disqualified because he had violated the party’s discipline by running against a PTI-backed candidate in the February 8 polls, and because he had not been a continuous member of the party for at least six months, as required by the party’s constitution.
The other two candidates, Ashraf Jabbar and Omar Ayub, withdrew their applications in favor of Barrister Khan, in a gesture of “party unity and harmony,” Hasan said. Ayub was elected as the party’s secretary general, also unopposed.
Hassan said Dr Yasmin Rashid, a former provincial health minister was acclaimed as the president of Punjab. The party also elected new office-bearers for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), the only province where PTI is in power. Ali Amin Gandapur, the current chief minister of KPK, was elected as the provincial president, while Noorul Haq Qadri and Arbab Jahandad Khan were elected as vice presidents.
Other key appointments included Ali Asghar Khan and Irfan Saleem as general secretary and additional general secretary respectively, and Fakhar Zaman as deputy general secretary. Daniyal Khan Jadoon, Khaista Mehmood, and Taimoor Khalid were elected as joint secretaries.
Hasan said the new intra-party elections were held in compliance with the guidelines issued by the ECP, and that the party hoped to resolve its legal issues and regain its electoral symbol.
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