Gohar Ali Khan again elected as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 1 (ANI): Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was elected unopposed as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chairman on Thursday, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.

He became the only person to be elected to the office twice in the PTI after his rival panel’s withdrawal.

In a statement on Thursday, PTI stated, “At the conclusion of the withdrawal phase of candidates/panels, there is only one candidate/panel remaining.”

Omar Ayub Khan has been elected unopposed as the PTI’s central general secretary as per the party’s announcement on Thursday, according to Geo News report.

Yasmin Rashid, Ali Amin Gandapur, and Haleem Adil Sheikh were also among the party leaders who were elected unopposed to the posts of the party’s presidents for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh, respectively, as no candidate came forward to contest against them.

PTI will organise an intra-party elections in Quetta for the Balochistan president’s position. The statement read, “The final result of the election will, however, be declared by the Federal Election Commissioner on March 3, 2024, at the conclusion of the election process.”

The PTI again held intra-party elections after the Supreme Court in February upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision on the party’s internal election, resulting in the party losing its electoral bat symbol, Geo News reported.

In November last year, incarcerated party founder Imran Khan stepped down as the PTI chief to avoid any legal implications, as he has been facing various cases, including terrorism to money laundering, since his ouster from power in April 2022. Imran Khan had nominated Barrister Gohar Ali Khan for the post of PTI chief.

Subsequently, the PTI held intra-party polls on December 2 last year, as per the directives issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The ECP had on December 22 barred the PTI from keeping its ‘bat’ symbol for the February 8 election, citing irregularities in their internal polls that did not comply with the party’s own constitution and election laws.

The court upheld the decision of the ECP and the embattled PTI candidates contested the elections on February 8 as independents and secured wins in 92 National Assembly seats.

Despite winning a majority of the seats, the PTI has taken the decision to sit on opposition benches as it did not want to ally with its rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to form a coalition government in the Centre.

The PTI-affiliated candidates have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in the lower house of parliament and the provincial assemblies in a bid to retain the reserved seats, Geo News reported.

PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, who challenged the internal polls of PTI in the ECP in 2023, has again announced that he will challenge the fresh elections conducted by the Imran Khan-founded party.

Speaking to reporters, Babar said he had taken the decision to challenge the latest attempt by the defunct PTI leadership to hold another intra-party poll on March 3, as it had no legal basis to carry out such an exercise.