The year 2023 brought more problems for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and its leaders. Following a number of defections, the party also lost its election symbol, albeit temporarily, in a ruling by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
On December 22, a five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, had declared PTI’s intra-party elections unlawful. “It is held that the PTI has not complied with our directions rendered therein order dated 23rd November 2023 and failed to hold the intra-party election by PTI prevailing constitution, 2019, and Election Act, 2017, and Election Rules, 2017,” the 11-page ECP order said.
The intra-party polls had been challenged by Akbar S Babar, a former PTI member, who claimed that the PTI had not elected Barrister Gohar Ali as its new chairman in line with the rules.
Babar, a founding member of the PTI and once close to Imran Khan, had sought fresh intra-party........