PTI lawyer Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has been elected unopposed the party’s new chairman, replacing incarcerated chief Imran Khan.
Moreover, former minister Omar Ayub Khan has been elected the central secretary general of the party.
These names were announced by PTI Election Commissioner Niazullah Niazi on Saturday morning as the party conducted its intra-party elections on the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He also announced that all the candidates and panels have been elected unopposed.
The party's central polling centre was set up in Peshawar's Rano Garhi area, overseen by its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Presiding Officer Ali Zaman.
He further said that the estranged founding member of the PTI, Akbar S. Babar, did not get in touch to submit his nomination papers, adding that he was neither a party member nor a candidate.
Niazi said Babar’s opposition to the chairman’s candidate was rejected. He said they were custodians of the Constitution and would not take any undemocratic step.
Furthermore, former Punjab minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has been announced as the provincial president of the PTI, Haleem Adil Sheikh the Sindh president, Ali Amin Gandapur Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Munir Ahmed the president of the PTI Balochistan chapter.
On November 29, PTI leader and Senator Ali Zafar had announced that the party will hold its intra-party elections on December 2.
Talking to the media in Islamabad, the lawyer also announced that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan would be the nominee for the party chairman’s election, as Imran Khan would not be contending for the office.
He further said that the PTI had conducted its intra-party polls in 2022. The election commission had directed the PTI to hold intra-party polls within 20 days to qualify for being allotted the ‘bat’ electoral symbol.
On November 23, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered the PTI to hold intra-party elections within 20 days, as previously, it had not conducted them transparently as per the Constitution.
