Gohar elected PTI chairman unopposed
ISLAMABAD: Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was declared the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) again following fresh intra-party polls, according to results shared by the party’s spokesperson and its Chief Election Commissioner Raoof Hasan on Sunday.
Hasan told reporters that Gohar won the chairman’s election unopposed. This is the third time PTI has conducted intra party elections in the past two years, following its Dec.2, 2023 elections which resulted in its electoral “bat” symbol ultimately being revoked by the Supreme Court following back and forth verdict by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Peshawar High Court (PHC).
Gohar was elected the PTI chairman for the first time in Dec.2 election.
Prior to that, the PTI held elections in June 2022, which the ECP had annulled on Nov.23, terming them “highly objectionable.”
Following the decision to schedule the new intra-party polls on March 3, incarcerated PTI leader Imran Khan had nominated Barrister Syed Ali Zafar for the position of chairman.
Days later, Zafar refused to accept the chairmanship, following which Imran named Gohar again for the party’s top post.
Hasan announced that Gohar won the chairman’s position unopposed since there were no other candidates. He noted that initially there were four applications for the position from Ashraf Jabbar, Omar Ayub, Naveed Anjum and Barrister Gohar.
Three applications were accepted, while that of Naveed Anjum was rejected.
Naveed Anjum’s application was rejected because he contested the Feb.8 general elections against a Pti-supported candidate, ater which his party membership was cancelled on Feb. 11, Hasan said.
He said that a second reason for the rejection was that despite Naveed Anjum applying for party membership again on Feb.24, a precondition to contesting intra party elections is to have been an uninterrupted member for at least 6 months.
Following that, Ashraf Jabbar and Omar Ayub “graciously withdrew their applications for the sake of party unity and harmony.”
“Because of this, there were no candidates against Gohar, so we declared him the uncontested winner. He has been elected party chairman unopposed,” Hasan said.
Meanwhile, Omar Ayub was elected PTI’S secretary general, also unopposed, since there were no other nominations for the position, Hasan said.