Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will hold its intra-party elections tomorrow to elect the party's new chairman, but a new candidate wishing to take the party's driving seat has emerged at the last moment.
The elections will be held at the party's central secretariat in Islamabad. PTI members from across the country will be eligible to vote.
The intra-party elections are being held following a directive from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The commission had earlier ordered PTI to hold the polls within 20 days to retain its election symbol.
Preparations for the elections are in the final stages, and the nomination process has concluded.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the nominated candidate for the post of chairman, has submitted his nomination papers. The lawyer is a close confidant of former PTI Chairman Imran Khan and is considered to be the frontrunner in the race.
Akbar S Babar reaches PTI secretariat
However, Akbar S Babar, the founding leader of PTI, visited the central secretariat after 13 years. He, along with other founding leaders of the party, went to the secretariat and the doors of the building were opened upon seeing him.
PTI founding member said that he wanted to obtain information about nomination papers, the voter list, and the election procedure.
He stated that several founding members wanted to participate in the intra-party elections.
Akbar S. Babar expressed his desire to take full part in tomorrow's elections.
Yesterday, he also criticized Imran Khan's nomination of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan as the sole candidate for the party chairman's position.
He called the process a "selection" rather than an election.
In a press release, Babar, who filed the foreign funding case against the PTI, said Imran Khan's nomination raises concerns about the transparency and credibility of the entire PTI intra-party election process.
He expressed disappointment that the PTI, which advocates for transparency and fairness in national elections, is not providing its members with the same level of transparency and fairness in its own leadership elections.
Babar accused the PTI of failing to learn from its past history of rigged intra-party elections.
He said the party wasted valuable time by dragging out the intra-party election process since the ECP granted them an extension due to COVID-19.
Babar proposed that the ECP appoint observers to monitor the PTI intra-party elections.
