ISLAMABAD: A year after disqualifying the chief of Sunnni Ittehad Council (SIC) Sahibzada Hamid Raza from his legislative membership, the electoral body has accepted the intra-party elections of his political party, declaring his son as the new SIC chief.
In this context, a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) published the certificate of the SIC intra-party elections that were held in Faisalabad in April this year.
The ECP notification, issued August 3, declared SIC’s eight central office-bearers as having elected unopposed with Sahibzada Hassan Raza, the son of Hamid Raza, as the party’s Central Chairman.
Hamid Raza is closely linked to incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan.
Raza was disqualified along with eight PTI lawmakers by the ECP on 5 August last year following their convictions by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Faisalabad in May 9 riots cases.
Since last year, 17 PTI linked lawmakers have been disqualified by the ECP following their convictions by the courts.
These lawmakers comprise eight National Assembly members, six Punjab Assembly members, and three senators.
Abdul Latif (NA-1 Chitral), Omar Ayub Khan (NA-18 Haripur), Ahmed Chattha (NA-66 Wazirabad), Rai Haider Ali (NA-96 Faisalabad), Sahibzada Hamid Raza (NA-104 Faisalabad), Rai Hassan Nawaz (NA-143 Sahiwal), Jamshaid Dasti (NA-175 Muzaffargarh), Zartaj Gul (NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan), Ansar Iqbal (PP-73 Sargodha), Ahmad Khan (PP-87 Mianwali), Junaid Afzal Sahi (PP-98 Faisalabad), Shahid Javed (PP-115 Faisalabad), Muhammad Ismael (PP-116 Faisalabad), Rai Murtaza Iqbal (PP-203 Sahiwal), Shibli Faraz (Senate), Ejaz Chaudhary (Senate) and Murad Saeed (Senate) are the disqualified legislators.
The intra-party elections of the political parties are generally regarded as being of symbolic significance, and the ECP mostly accepts the related certificates submitted to it by the political parties regarding completion of their respective intra-party polls. Still, holding intra-party elections is a mandatory requirement for every political party under the relevant election laws.
The PTI intra-party polls case sees a prolonged delay of over four years. The electoral body has rejected the legality of these elections thrice, since June 2022, allegedly out of politically motivated reasons.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
Comments