ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court has been asked to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to accept the affiliations of PTI returned candidates signed by Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as Chairman of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) and Omer Ayub as its General Secretary.
In this regard, the PTI Monday filed an application through advocate Uzair Karamat Bhandari seeking guidance of eight judges regarding their short order in reserved seats of women and non-Muslims to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf.
It stated that the Commission’s application that it is facing difficulty to implement paras 7-10 of the apex court order dated 12-07-24 as the PTI at the moment has no organizational structure for confirmation of the MNAs and MPAs.
He stated that the application is nothing but an attempt by the ECP to circumvent and delay the implementation of the SC short order.
The PTI lawyer said that the contention by ECP could not be further from the truth. PTI has held its intra-party elections and has submitted the requisite certificate and documents in terms of section 209 of the Elections Act, 2017, with the ECP.
He added that the PTI’s organisational structure is very much in place, PTI has taken all necessary steps and is in full compliance with the applicable law. The first intra-party elections of PTI under its 2019 Constitution were conducted on June 10, 2022. These elections were declared invalid by the ECP through its order dated 23rd November, 2023. In this order, the ECP also held that various organisations of the PTI, such as the National Council, had ceased to exist.
He further said that pursuant to the ECP’s order dated 23rd November, 2023, the PTI again held its intra-party elections on 2nd December, 2023. However, the ECP vide order dated 22nd December, 2023 once again held that such elections were invalid on the ground that the PTI’s Election Commission had not been validly appointed since there was no Chief Organiser. The ECP this order was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The application apprised the Court that Barrister Gohar Khan, in his capacity as Chairman and Omar Ayub Khan, in his capacity as General Secretary of PTI, who have signed the confirmation of affiliation with the PTI of the returned candidates who have filed their statements in light of the SC short order.
The PTI submitted that in the light of the foregoing, it is incomprehensible how the ECP is alleging that there is no ‘organizational structure’ of the PTI in place to give the requisite confirmations of affiliation.
