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Founding member of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Akbar S Babar has filed two separate pleas with the country's Election Commission challenging the recent intra-party elections of the party founded by Imran Khan, Geo News reported.
On January 13, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the ECP's December 22 verdict, declaring the PTI's intra-party elections invalid, which resulted in the party losing its electoral symbol, 'bat' and PTI candidates contesting the February 8 polls as independent. In its 11-page order on a petition filed by Babar, a five-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja termed the March 3 intra-party polls of the PTI unlawful. In his fresh plea on Tuesday, Babar urged the ECP to annul the PTI's recent intra-party polls. PTI's federal election commissioner, Raoof Hasan, announced that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub Khan had been elected as PTI's chairman and secretary general unopposed, respectively, in the intra-party elections. Speaking to reporters, Babar said that he has filed a plea with the ECP against the "fresh fraud" of the PTI and added that he was kept away from the intra-party polls. Terming the PTI intra-party polls a "drama," Babar asked why the same faces are elected unopposed each time. He said, "The party membership of those lawmakers who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) should be revoked," Geo News reported. Referring to the apex court's verdict, Babar said he was a member of PTI and alleged that the top leadership of the former ruling party "did not want the leadership to go into the hands of workers." He said, "The party's leadership does not have the prerogative to strike a deal with any other political party," according to Geo News report. Responding to a query, Akbar Babar stressed that "illegal" use of the PTI funds should be stopped. He further said, "They should be stopped until the new intra-party elections are held as per the [party's] constitution." (ANI)
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