ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja on Tuesday called into question the previous intra-party elections held by the PTI, saying that the ECP had given the party another opportunity to hold internal polls, even though it dragged its feet on the issue for five years.

He made these remarks while heading a five-member ECP bench hearing challenges against PTI’s latest intra-party elections, held on Dec 2.

When PTI’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar read out a recent Peshawar High Court order restraining the ECP from passing an order in the case, the CEC asserted the ECP’s authority on the issue, saying the commission was empowered to look into the case.

“For five years, PTI could not hold intra-party elections. The elections it eventually did hold are invalid in our opinion,” the CEC said, adding that despite everything, the party was given another opportunity to conduct intra-party elections.

Terms previous internal elections ‘invalid’, asserts ECP’s role as regulator of political parties

He also urged PTI lawyers “not to hold ECP responsible for the party’s mistakes”.

PTI lawyers, including the newly elected Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Barrister Ali Zafar, said that despite their reservations over ECP’s order to hold elections, the party had complied with it.

In its order, the ECP had declared that PTI’s intra-party elections, held in June 2022, were ‘null and void’ and ordered fresh elections within 20 days.

The PTI’s lawyers argued that polls were held and results had been submitted before the ECP. Now, the party should be allotted the ‘bat’ as its symbol for general elections.

Barrister Zafar also maintained that the ECP was supposed to certify the elections within a week — by Dec 9 — and the deadline had already passed.

He said the ECP’s role as an electoral watchdog was “at risk here”, and it cannot treat the matter like a court case. The CEC also inquired about the Peshawar High Court order barring ECP from deciding challenges to PTI’s intra-party elections.

Barrister Zafar read out the order, passed on Monday, stopping the ECP from passing any “adverse order” till Dec 19, when the court would hear the case. The ECP’s DG law then read out the relevant constitutional provision and a Supreme Court judgement that empowered the ECP to regulate political parties.

During the hearing, the complainants, including Akbar S. Babar, requested the ECP to grant them access to PTI’s intra-party election documents.

The CEC granted the requests and directed that applications be filed to acquire the required record.

CEC Raja has set Dec 14 as the next hearing date to hear arguments from both sides.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023