Pakistan's polls body reserves verdict on plea to bar jailed former PM Imran Khan from heading his part
Islamabad, December 5
Pakistan’s election commission on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a petition that was filed to remove Imran Khan as the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party due to his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case, according to a media report.
The petition was filed on October 3, and two months later, on December 2, Imran Khan decided against contesting the Election Commission of Pakistan-mandated intra-party polls for the post of party chairman due to his disqualification in the Toshakhana case.
The jailed former prime minister had instead handpicked Barrister Gohar Ali Khan to lead the party that he founded and other legal challenges earlier this month. Barrister Gohar was officially elected as the PTI chief unopposed in the intra-party polls held on December 2.
Khan, 71, has been in jail since Aug 5 when he was arrested after a conviction in the Toshakhana case. He was also disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the same case for failing to disclose the proceeds from the sale of gifts he got from the state repository.
During the hearing today, PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said the petition had become infructuous as the party has elected its new chairman, Geo News reported.
Stating that they have submitted a record of the intra-party polls to the ECP and the matter should now come to an end, advocate Shaheen also said that if the ECP wanted to hear this matter then it should club it with a petition being filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar against the party’s intra-party polls.
The report quoted Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja as saying: “You are giving Khalid Mahmood (petitioner’s lawyer) a chance to file a petition against the new chairman.”
Advocate Mahmood also pleaded with the CEC to mention in the order that Imran Khan cannot hold any position in the party due to his conviction.
The CEC said that they cannot comment on the matter as the former PTI chief did not contest intra-party polls.
The ECP also directed Khan’s lawyer to submit the record of the PTI’s intra-party polls even as it reserved the verdict on the petition.
“Several political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and others have dubbed the PTI intra-party polls as fake, while PTI founding members raised objections to the process and announced challenging the internal party elections in the ECP,” Geo News said.
