Intra-Party Elections
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is set to conduct intra-party elections once again, with the completion of the nomination paper filing process on Sunday. Four candidates are vying for the position of party chairman, including Barrister Gohar, Ashraf Qureshi from Sindh, Muhammad Aslam from Balochistan, and Naveed Anjum from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Omar Ayub Khan is leading a 15-member panel that has submitted its nomination papers, with Khan himself contesting for the post of secretary general. In Punjab, Yasmin Rashid, Muhammad Khan, and Asad Hanif have filed their nomination papers.
For Sindh, panels led by Haleem Adil and Khawand Bakhsh Ghulam are in the running, while Munir Baloch is contesting for the position of Balochistan’s president. Additionally, a panel led by Ali Amin Gandapur has submitted papers for elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It’s noteworthy that the party had conducted intra-party elections last year under an ultimatum from the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, all candidates were elected unopposed, leading to the annulment of the elections by the ECP, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court.
The repercussions of the annulled elections resulted in the party losing the right to use the bat symbol in the subsequent general elections. Now, with the upcoming intra-party elections, PTI aims to conduct a transparent and competitive process to select its leadership.
The involvement of multiple candidates indicates a more robust and contested election, avoiding the issues that led to the previous elections being nullified. The party’s leadership hopes to navigate these elections smoothly and reinforce the democratic principles within PTI.
