ISLAMABAD: Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has been elected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman unopposed for the second time on Thursday, becoming the only person to be elected to the office twice in the party, after his rival panel withdrew from the contest.
“After the end of the withdrawal phase of candidates/panels, there is only one candidate/panel left,” the PTI said in a statement late Thursday.
Similarly, Omar Ayub Khan has been elected unopposed as the Imran-founded party’s central secretary general, as per the party’s announcement.
Ali Amin Gandapur, Dr Yasmin Rashid and Haleem Adil Sheikh were also among the party leaders elected unopposed to the positions of the party’s presidents for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh respectively, as no candidate came forward to challenge them.
The former ruling party, however, will organise the intra-party polls in Quetta for the Balochistan president’s slot. The final result of the election will be declared by the PTI’s Federal Election Commissioner on March 3, 2024, at the conclusion of the election process, read the party statement.
The intra-party polls are being held again after the Supreme Court, last month upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision on the party’s internal election, leading to the party losing its iconic electoral ‘Bat’ symbol.
In November last year, the jailed party founder Imran Khan stepped down as the PTI chief to avoid any legal implications as he has been facing scores of cases ranging from terrorism to money-laundering since his ouster from power in April 2022. The PTI founder had nominated Barrister Gohar for the post of the party chief.
Subsequently, the PTI held intra-party elections on December 2 on the directives of the ECP, which were declared null and void.
Due to the apex court’s ruling, the embattled PTI candidates contested the February 8 polls as independents and emerged victorious with 92 National Assembly seats and later joined the Sunni Ittehad Council.
Despite winning the majority seats, the PTI decided to sit on opposition benches as it refused to ally with its rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) to form a coalition government in the Centre.
