Islamabad:

Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday announced party polls for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, weeks after an earlier attempt by the party was canceled by the country’s top electoral body, resulting in the party’s trademark cricket bat Disappear before the election. General election on February 8th.

Imprisoned Imran Khan and his party colleagues face numerous obstacles in Pakistan ahead of the February 8 election. In addition to taking away his party’s election symbols, Mr Khan himself and his senior colleague Shah Mahmood Qureshi were jailed on multiple charges. The case and its nomination papers were also rejected.

On Wednesday, Mr Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was also sentenced in a corruption case along with the former prime minister.

Last year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked the PTI party to hold new intra-party elections, which it did, but was also challenged by some disgruntled PTI workers. After a bitter court battle, the act was repealed and the European Communist Party was stripped of the party’s cricket bat as its common symbol.

On Thursday, just one week before the general election, the party announced that it would hold intra-party elections on February 5, the Information Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China said in a statement.

New party elections scheduled for February 5 came too late, as the party has already fielded independent candidates for next week’s election.

Party spokesman Raof Hassan has been appointed federal election commissioner.

“PTI Federal Election Commission is pleased to announce the electoral schedule for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party Intra-Party Elections (IPE) to elect the Chairman of the central and provincial organizations,” the statement read.

All party members who registered before January 31 can vote for their preferred panel or chairman candidate at designated locations across Pakistan, the statement said.

Members can also record their votes through the “Raabta App Intra-Party Elections Module”. The results of the intra-party election will be officially announced on February 6.

Previously, the ECP had on November 23 last year declared the intra-party elections held by PTI in June 2022 invalid, deeming them highly objectionable. “The party hastily organized another election in Peshawar on December 2, in which all candidates were elected unanimously, the party said.

However, the polls have been questioned, with the European Communist Party ruling on December 22 that the latest party poll was invalid after hearing requests. The party was subsequently stripped of the bat as a symbol as well.

The ECP’s verdict was challenged in the Peshawar High Court and later in the Supreme Court, which upheld the ECP’s verdict after a hearing on January 13.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)