Imran Khan fails to appear before poll panel over failure to hold intra-party elections

Islamabad, Aug 4 (PTI) Pakistan’s former prime minister and chief of PTI Imran Khan on Friday failed to appear before the election commission despite having been served a final notice over the party’s failure to hold intra-party elections, according to a media report.

Khan, 70, was summoned by the electoral watchdog with a warning that if he failed to appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan, it might declare his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party ineligible to obtain an election symbol for future elections, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“PTI chairman Imran Khan failed to appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday despite the notice served on him,” the report said.

Referring to Section 209 (1), the ECP on Friday pointed out that every registered political party was bound to provide the commission with a certificate about the holding of its intra-party polls.

The PTI’s intra-party elections were scheduled to be held on June 13, 2021 under the party’s constitution, the report said. However, it was not held.

In May last year, the commission issued a show-cause notice to Khan for his failure to hold intra-party elections of the PTI in his capacity as its chairman.

However, the former ruling party failed to hold its intra-party polls even by the new date, the report said.

On Friday, no progress could be made on the matter during the hearing as the PTI’s lawyer Barrister Gohar Ali appeared before the panel by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja and requested for the hearing to be postponed instead, the report said.

The notice to Khan and his party came as Pakistan is all set to hold general elections in the coming months.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that the National Assembly would be dissolved on August 9, three days before the term of the lower house of Parliament is scheduled to end, a move which will lead to general elections in the country within 90 days.