LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is holding intra-party election from midnight today (Saturday) – binding its 2.7 million registered voters to make just one choice – Imran Khan or Naik Muhammad Khan. The election process will run for 48 hours.

The PTI Election Commission has re-drafted party’s constitution and developed software for intra-party election that gave registered voters just two choices: panel 1 or 2. Anything written besides 1 or 2 will disqualify the vote.

“No party member is allowed to choose anybody besides the two panels with 14 members each,” said PTI Chief Election Commissioner Azam Swati while speaking at a news conference here on Friday. He was flanked by his team at central and Punjab level.

The Insaf Panel led by Imran Khan and Ehtesab Panel led by Naik Muhammad Khan are in the run.

The Insaf Panel includes all top office-bearers whose offices were dissolved to pave the way for the intra-party poll. They are Imran Khan (chairman), Shah Mahmood Qureshi (vice chairman), Jahangir Khan Tareen (secretary general), Dr Arif Alvi (Sindh president), Yar Muhammad Rind (Balochistan president), Ishaq Khan Khaqwani (south Punjab president), Abdul Aleem Khan (central Punjab president), Aamir Mahmood Kiyani (north Punjab president), Faizullah Kamoka (west Punjab president), Ali Amin Gandapur (KP south region president), Shah Farman (Peshawar region president), Mehmood Khan (Malakand region president), Zar Gul Khan (Hazara region president) and Raja Khurram Nawaz (Islamabad region president).

The Ehtesab Panel comprises Naik Muhammad Khan (chairman), Syed Aftab Shah (vice chairman), retired senator Dr Shahzad Waseem (secretary general), Raja Azhar Khan (Sindh president), Sardar Khadim Hussain Wardak (Balochistan president), Muhammad Ibrahim Khan (south Punjab president), Mansha Sindhu (central Punjab president), Yusaf Khattak (north Punjab president), retired Maj Abdul Rehman Rana (west Punjab president), Ziaullah Bangash (KP south region president), Syed Abdul Saboor Shah (Peshawar region president), Abdul Munim Khan (Malakand region president), Abdul Haque Khan (Hazara region president) and Raja Qaiser Ghaffar (Islamabad region president).

Mr Swati said the software did not allow voters to consider just a candidate contesting the election, but the whole panel. “We did not have time to develop better software and hold elections allowing party members to elect candidates,” he said.

He said the party’s election commission would send messages to all registered voters within an hour when the election process would begin at midnight today.

While senior PTI leader Advocate Hamid Khan expressed reservations over amendment to the party’s constitution, Mr Swati said the constitution now allowed intra-party election the way it was being held.

“This election is far better than those political parties’ elections who present a list of unopposed candidates as their office-bearers,” he said.

He further said the current exercise would empower the party chairman to hold elections at any level: provincial, region, district or union council.

Answering a question, he said the party was holding its intra-party election in a hurry to regain its election symbol of ‘bat’ from the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2017