The ‘founding member’ of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Akbar S Babar has filed two separate pleas in the country’s election commission challenging the recent intra-party elections of the party.
The politician has asked ECP to declare the recently held intra-party elections null and void and order the party to hold it again. He has also asked the ECP to issue directions to all banks concerned in the country to freeze all PTI accounts until it complies with the order. The complaint which has been addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner appeals that the party’s ‘defunct’ leadership be restrained from making more attempts to hold such unlawful elections and the matter should be resolved under the supervision of ECP. Babar argues that only 940 people voted in the election which is only 0.11 of the party’s strength.
Mr. Babar, who previously filed the case regarding prohibited funding against the PTI, has requested the ECP to commence contempt proceedings against the PTI leadership. This request stems from the issuance of a press release on February 2, disregarding the directives of the ECP, the Islamabad High Court, and the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which affirmed his membership in the PTI. In addition, the plea also calls for nulling the membership of PTI members who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), by their own declaration. He argues that all the candidates who contested the national elections as independents and have signed affidavits before the ECP of joining the SIC have consequently lost their basic membership of PTI under the Election Act, 2017, Section 203, subsection (3).
