Just a day after announcing the schedule for intra-party polls on February 5, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to delay its elections.
Barrister Gohar Khan told the media that the directives to delay the polls came from PTI founder Imran Khan, who believed that holding intra-party elections could distract candidates and voters from the upcoming general elections on February 8.
The party is currently facing uncertainty, especially as it has not been assigned its traditional electoral symbol “bat” after legal disputes with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
On Thursday, the party’s central media department released an official schedule, appointing spokesperson Raoof Hasan as the federal election commissioner for the intra-party elections. However, with the general elections approaching, the party finds itself in a challenging situation.
Previous intra-party polls by PTI were controversial, as founding member Akbar S Babar contested the results and urged the ECP to order a fresh round of elections.
The polls held in Peshawar on December 2 elected Barrister Gohar Khan as the new chairman, nominated by Imran Khan himself.
Babar refused to accept the results, citing irregularities, and along with other founding leaders, challenged the elections following a high court decision.
Resultantly, the apex court upheld the ECP’s ruling regarding the PTI’s intra-party polls.
