Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will conduct its intra-party elections on February 5, announced the PTI officials.
The former ruling party general body meeting has also passed the resolution to hold the polls acorss the country. It also sought applications from contestors. The party, in principle, had decided to hold the intra-party polls before the general elections in Pakistan. The national vote will be held on February 8.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali has also confirmed the development while talking to a local TV.
The Supreme Court, in a decision dubbed as controversial, has already deprived the former ruling party of its iconic election symbol “Bat” for not holding the intra-party polls. All the PTI candidates are now contesting the general election as independents. However, different surveys put it ahead of other political rivals in popularity.
The majority of the political parties in the country, except for the Jamaat-e-Islami, hardly conduct the intra-party polls in a free and fair manner. Some major parties act as family dynasties where the party polls are held only to fulfil the criteria of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
It is mandatory for all political parties to hold party elections under the ECP rules to contest in the local bodies, by and in general elections.
Many believe the PTI has been technically knocked out of running its election campaign due to the role of the powerful military establishment. The PTI founder chairman, Imran Khan, said on many occasions that it was only his party which fulfilled all democratic criteria. Imran Khan is currently imprisoned under different charges. A special court has announced a 10-year sentence for him in the Cipher case. An accountability court has awarded him 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana reference.
