ISLAMABAD: Barrister Gohar Khan was elected as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chairman unopposed on Thursday, becoming the only person to be elected to the office twice in the party, after his rival panel’s withdrawal.

At the conclusion of the withdrawal phase of candidates/panels, there is only one candidate/panel remaining, the PTI said in a statement late Thursday.

Omar Ayub Khan has been elected unopposed as the Imran-founded party’s central general secretary.

Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ali Amin Gandapur, and Haleem Adil Sheikh were also among the party leaders who were elected unopposed to the positions of the party’s presidents for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh, respectively, as no candidate came forward to contest against them.

The former ruling party will hold an intra-party poll in Quetta for the Balochistan president’s post.

“The final result of the election will, however, be declared by the Federal Election Commissioner on March 3. 2024, at the conclusion of the election process, read the statement.

The intra-party polls were held again after the Supreme Court last month upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decision on the party's internal election leading to the party losing its iconic electoral bat symbol.

In November last year, incarcerated party founder Imran Khan stepped down as the PTI chief to avoid any legal implications as he has been facing scores of cases ranging from terrorism to money laundering since his ouster from power in April 2022.

The PTI founder had nominated Barrister Gohar for the post of the party chief.

Subsequently, the PTI held intra-party elections on Dec 2 to elect new party leadership on the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan to elect a new party chairman and other office-bearers.

However, the party polls were declared null and void by the ECP.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024