ECP issues showcause notice to Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a showcause notice to Prime Minister Imran Khan for not conducting the intra-party elections of Pakistan Tehrik-e-insaf (PTI).
The ECP sent a showcause notice to Imran as Chairman of his party. The election commission sought a reply from the PTI chairman within 14 days.
“Why doesn’t the commission take back the PTI’S party symbol for not holding the intra-party election?” the ECP notice reads.
As per the requirement, PTI had to submit the details of the intra-party election in the ECP by June 13. All political parties are required to hold intra-party elections as per the ECP requirement mentioned in the relevant Act.
Earlier, the ECP has sought a report from the scrutiny committee on the PTI’S request that it should also be given access to the bank account details submitted by two major opposition parties – the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — in connection with an investigation into their alleged foreign funding.
Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib later talking to reporters dismissed complainant Akbar S Babar’s fact finding report and said that Babar was allegedly getting paid by the PML-N to pursue this case. Meanwhile, the PTI has won the by-election for the Punjab Assembly seat, PP-38, Sialkot, by defeating the PML-N.
PTI candidate Ahsan Saleem Baryar got 60,588 votes whereas PML-N ticket holder Tariq Akhtar secured 53,571 ballots. With the latest victory, the PTI now has two provincial assembly seats in Sialkot district out of the 11 Punjab Assembly seats.
Baryar is son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s Principal Secretary Tahir Khurshid. His father is a leader of the PML-Q.
There was a palpable sense of jubilation in the PTI and Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said a new face in politics had defeated the experienced politician in the by-poll.
The PML-N had won this seat in 2018 with a lead of 17,000 that it has now lost with a margin of some 7,000 ballots. This is the only by-election that the PTI has won in Punjab since 2018.
All eyes were on the Sialkot by-election after the PTI victory in the recent Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJKLA) election. The PTI reposed trust in Baryar for the all-important seat after the nomination papers of Qaisar Iqbal, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, were rejected by the returning officer due to his dual nationality.