The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was on Tuesday informed that as per the Election Act, a political party was bound to submit details of intra-party elections to the election commission within seven days of these elections, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
A five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the petitions filed by Akbar S. Babar and others against the PTI’s intra-party elections.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and petitioners in the case appeared before the bench.
On the last hearing, the ECP had issued a notice to the party.
In his arguments, Barrister Ali Zafar, counsel for the PTI, said that in the light of the election commission’s order, the party held its elections within 20 days. “We don’t want the country’s largest political party to be deprived of its election symbol,” he said, adding, “Since not many days are left in the general elections, therefore, we want the fate of these petitions should be decided early.”
Addressing the barrister, the CEC remarked that he was very much aware that the PTI did not hold its intra-party elections for five years, and this did not go down well with the ECP.
But PTI’s lawyer reiterated that the party had complied with the election commission’s order.
Barrister Zafar further said that the Peshawar High Court (PHC), in its order, had barred the ECP from pronouncing verdict in the case. “You cannot give decision in the case,” he said.
One of the members of the commission replied that the bench had not reached any conclusion as yet.
But PTI chairman intervened and said that in his opinion members of the bench already had the decision in their mind.
PTI’s lawyer asked the bench to first listen to arguments by the petitioners before he and the party chairman could go ahead with their defence.
Later, the CEC adjourned the case’s hearing until Thursday.
Reporter: Usman Khan