Ex-PM Khan’s party delays intraparty polls to after Feb. 8 national elections

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Friday it was postponing its intra-party elections until after the February 8 national elections.
The announcement came a day after Khan’s PTI said it would hold fresh intraparty elections on Feb. 5, in line with the directives of Pakistan’s top court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
However, it said on Friday that the intraparty elections were being rescheduled and would now take place after the general elections.
“At the time of holding of the general body meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on January 31, 2024, the designated venues of the party where the meetings were set to take place and the entry of participants were unlawfully blocked by the administration, including sealing of the Islamabad office, thus forcing us to search for and confirm alternate places and seek legal remedies,” the PTI said in a notification.
“While we are ready for holding IPE (intra-party elections) on the basis of secret ballot through digital balloting, the arrangements for availability of alternate venues require additional time.”
While there was no specific mention of any incident, the Islamabad police said on X that section 144 had been in force in the capital and any election-related programs must be reported to the respective police stations.
Khan’s party suffered a major blow on Jan. 13 after the Supreme Court ruled it was not eligible to retain the “cricket bat” as its election symbol since it had failed to hold intraparty polls as per law. The decision means the party’s candidates will now contest national polls as independent candidates using different symbols.
The top court’s ruling also denied the party a share in the reserved seats for women and religious minorities in parliament which are distributed among political factions based on total seats won in the general elections. 
A general body meeting of the party, attended by its top leadership, on Wednesday decided to appoint PTI’s central information secretary, Raoof Hasan, as the chief election commissioner for the intraparty polls.
Hasan told Arab News on Thursday the party had decided to hold intraparty polls before the Feb. 8 elections as it wanted to “reclaim” its election symbol.
“After the submission of the intraparty elections, we can reclaim our symbol, which we understand they will not give to us because they are unfortunately acting on an agenda,” he said.
“We are going through the [intraparty polls] exercise again simply because we have been left with no other option,” Hasan said. “It is a right of every political party to have a symbol.”
Many believe the PTI’s move to hold intraparty elections before the Feb. 8 national elections is aimed at retaining party candidates and subsequently claiming a share in reserved seats.
The party said on Thursday even though its candidates would officially contest polls as independents due to the top court’s Jan. 13 verdict, they would remain affiliated with the party and would be bound by its policies and decisions.