ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday rejected a reference filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPA Ziaullah Afridi seeking to disqualify the lawmaker for violating party rules.
In the reference, the PTI chief had sought Afridi's disqualification as member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on the grounds that the former minister had joined the PPP.
In the orders, the ECP declared Ziaullah eligible to hold the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat.
Imran had filed a reference against Ziaullah, saying he had joined PPP and thus become ineligible as MPA on PTI ticket.
Ziaullah, who was the minister for mineral development in the KP government, was dismissed over charges of corruption in his department.
In August 2017, he announced joining PPP after meeting former President Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier, the five-member bench of Election Commission of Pakistan dismissed the petition challenging the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s intra-party election.
The PTI submitted records of its intra-party elections, according to which as many as 256,997 votes were polled, of which Insaf Panel secured 189,055 and Ehtesaab Panel received 141,000 votes, whereas 26,255 votes were rejected.
The PTI’s counsel objected on 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.
Yousuf Ali, a former general secretary of the PTI’s Swabi chapter, had filed the petition before the ECP and asked the commission to declare the election null and void on the grounds that the polling process had violated the party’s constitution.
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