ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of PTI’s intra-party elections case, giving the party more time to submit relevant documents.

A three-member bench headed by ECP member from Sindh Nisar Ahmed Durrani conducted the hearing.

The ECP member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the course of hearing asked as to who supervised the elections of the PTI in the absence of an organisational structure.

“The ECP didn’t raise any objection over recent election of the PTI. There are a few legal as well as technical questions which we intend to answer if we are given time,” responded PTI Chief Barrister Gohar. He said that police took away everything which included important party documents, adding that they didn’t even spare a water dispenser during their raid on the PTI Central Secretariat.

The bench asked PTI which date it wanted the case to be fixed and the PTI said it will coordinate with the secretariat. Later, the Election Commission adjourned the hearing of the case sine die, giving time to PTI to submit the documents.

PTI held intra-party elections on June 9, 2022, which were declared null and void by the Election Commission of Pakistan in November 2023 and in an order issued on November 23, 2023, the ECP had given 20 days’ time to the former ruling party to hold fresh elections so as not to lose its election symbol ‘bat’.

The ECP order came at a time when the general elections were about two months away and political parties were pushing for their election campaigns across the country. The PTI took less than 10 days to hold intra-party elections on Dec 2, 2023, so that it could contest the nationwide elections with its election symbol.

But to the surprise of many, the PTI’s internal elections were treated differently and underwent an unusual microscopic examination.

On December 22, the ECP, for the second time in less than a month, declared the PTI intra-party elections null and void, leaving no option for the party but to play election innings without ‘bat’, its iconic poll symbol.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2024