ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s request for disqualifying Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPA Ziaullah Afridi.
While announcing its verdict in the case, ECP declared Ziaullah eligible to hold the provincial assembly seat.
The ECP also dismissed petitions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) requesting PTI intra-party elections as null and void.
Imran had filed a reference against Ziaullah, saying the latter had joined Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and therefore, could not stay in the provincial assembly on a PTI ticket. The PTI chief had also submitted proof of the MPA joining another party.
Ziaullah, who was the minister for mineral development in the KP government, was dismissed on charges of corruption in his department.
He announced the news of him joining PPP in August 2017, after meeting the party’s co-chairperson, Asif Ali Zardari.
Out of five ECP members, three gave a verdict in the favour of Ziaullah Afridi and restored his membership while two gave the decision to terminate his membership. The ECP while announcing its verdict on Thursday, declared Ziaullah eligible to hold the provincial assembly seat.
While submitting a record to the ECP regarding intra-party elections, the counsel for PTI, Shahid Gondal informed that there are total 1.7 million voters of PTI and in intra-party elections, 2,56,997 votes were cast. Insaf penal bagged 1,89,055 votes while Ehtisab penal got over 1,41,000 votes and almost 26,255 votes were wasted.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer sought details of the intra-party elections upon which Gondal justified that ECP can investigate but other parties could not respond. Gondal also objected to giving the election records to the other party as it would violate the sanctity of the vote, adding that providing the records would give access to the phone number of voters.
He stated that ECP its can verify this process and further added that the supply of such records unveils who voted for whom.
Yousuf Ali, former PTI’s Swabi chapter general secretary, had filed the petition before ECP and had asked the commission to declare the election null and void on the grounds that the polling process had violated the party’s constitution.
