The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday warned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) it risked losing its election symbol over a failure to hold intra-party elections for over two years.
In a notice, the electoral body has directed PTI Chairman Imran Khan to appear before it on Aug. 4 at 10 a.m. to explain the lack of intra-party elections, adding “failing which the Commission under Section 215(5) of the Elections Act, 2017, may declare your political party ineligible to obtain election symbol for future election(s).”
In its notice, the ECP referred to previous notices that had been conveyed to the PTI, stressing that the PTI’s intra-party elections were due on June 13, 2021 under the party’s constitution. It said the PTI had been reminded to conduct intra-party elections within the timeframe provided under sections 208, 209 and 215 of the Elections Act, 2017, but the party had failed to “provide the requisite certificate to this effect.”
The electoral body further noted that it had issued a “final” notice to the PTI in May 2022 for conducting intra-party elections “on or before” June 13, 2022, adding that it had been made clear that no further extension would be granted. In response, it said, the PTI had submitted a copy of the party’s amended constitution, along with a certificate of intra-party elections and relevant documents. Scrutiny had found these deficient and reverted them to the party for correction, it said.
Subsequently, the party had submitted new intra-party documents including Form-65, notification of elected office bearers, resolution of National Council on July 7, 2022 on the basis of the amended constitution, which were again scrutinized and found deficient and sent back to PTI on Aug. 4, 2022 for removal of deficiencies.
According to the notice, a hearing of the case on March 28, 2023 had deliberated on the amendments to the PTI’s constitution and intra-party elections documents. However, said the ECP, the PTI had assured it that it was withdrawing the amendment in the party constitution, and its consequential effects on intra-party elections held under the amended constitution.
Referring to Section 209(1) of the Election Act, the ECP noted that every registered political party was bound to provide the ECP with a certificate regarding the conduct of the intra-party elections. Failure to do so, it warned, could result in the party being declared ineligible to obtain an election symbol.
The ECP’s notice comes a month after it had directed political parties to submit applications for the allotment of elections symbols ahead of general polls in the country, due later this year.