ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said Chaudhry Shujaat would remain the PML-Q’s president and Tariq Bashir Cheema will continue to hold the party position of secretary-general.
ECP’s four-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja heard Shujaat’s plea against the intra-party election.
During today’s proceedings, Sikandar Sultan Raja said the ECP is issuing notices to PML-Q leader and his brother, Pervez Elahi and Punjab Secretary-General Kamil Ali Agha, telling them that both — Shujaat and Cheema — would retain their positions till the next hearing.
The Chief Election Commissioner then adjourned proceedings till August 16.
PML-Q chief Chaudhary Shujaat’s counsel told the four-member bench that his client got to know about a meeting of the party’s central working committee which had decided to remove Shujaat and Cheema from party positions.
He informed the ECP bench that a CEC does not “exist” in the party and the leaders’ decision to hold an intra-party election was illegal.
“The members were not aware of the meeting; there is no list of the members who participated in the meeting; therefore, it is illegal,” the lawyer said.
He stressed that Shujaat and Cheema still hold their offices and demanded action against the leaders who called themselves members of the central working committee.
The lawyer said that the central working committee does not have the authority to remove the party president from office, while they can leave office through voluntary resignation.
