Verdict reserved on Akbar Babar's plea against PTI intra-party polls

Paramilitary soldiers stand guard outside the Pakistan’s election commission building in Islamabad on August 2, 2022. — AFP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday reserved verdict on a plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S Babar, seeking to nullify the “fraudulent and rigged” intra-party polls.

The PTI recently held intra-party polls after which Babar, along with other party members, filed a petition, against "rigged/fraudulent PTI intra-party elections" requesting the country's top electoral authority to order the party to conduct fresh polls.

On December 2, Barrister Gohar Khan was elected as the party's chairman replacing Imran Khan for the first time as PTI chief.

Babar, however, refused to accept the polls and move the electoral authority against the irregularities. The senior politician added that he and other founding leaders are part of the party following the high court’s decision.

The politician approached the ECP seeking its intervention in the matter as a member of PTI whose membership was validated by the electoral body.

A five-member commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, conducted the hearing on the petition filed by 14 PTI members against the intra-party polls.

At the outset of the hearing, PTI's counsel Barrister Ali Zafar presented his arguments, saying that the ECP had ordered to conduct polls within 20 days.

"We conducted elections on your orders. The chairman is elected for five years while the panel is for three years," said Barrister Zafar, adding that voting is not required where there is an uncontested election.

He added that the uncontested elections are not illegal. "The procedure for conducting intra-party elections is not mentioned in the Constitution, Election Act and Election Rules."

The procedure to conduct intra-party polls is not mentioned in the PTI's constitution, said Zafar, arguing that the matter was left to the party. "Every party has an option either to do ad hoc or make rules," he said.

Zafar also added that ECP is not a regulator in the intra-party polls.

During the hearing, the ECP members said that the PTI submitted the intra-party election certificate.