PTI Chairman Imran Khan to be Patron-in-Chief

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s top leadership has explored Imran Khan’s legal challenge to the party chairmanship and considering appointing him as the ” Patron-in-Chief” to avoid being sacked as chairman.

The PTI leader has been charged in the Toshakan case after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from the NA-95 (Mianwali-1) constituency for allegedly filing wrong asset declarations. Khan was charged by the election agency last month following his conviction in the Toshakan scam.

However, the PTI chairman challenged the ECP’s decision to bar him from leading his party in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and got a stay order in his favor. However, LHC judge Jawad Hasan, who is hearing the case, blocked any adverse action by the ECP against Khan and advised the chief justice that a larger bench decide the case.

In a meeting on Friday, the party’s top leaders discussed the legal aspects of the case and considered Khan’s appointment as patron-in-chief. However, the party’s internal representatives claim that the PTI is a reserve strategy that can resist the legitimate potential of the PTI chairperson.

The report says: “Even with a new appointment, he still has the full right to monitor the party affairs.” They said there was no need to amend the party constitution for the new post.

The Electoral Commission will examine this issue on January 25 after being informed that the LHC has prohibited the commission from removing Hannu’s party chairman. However, PTI’s lead counsel to the five-member panel of ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja said they had not received the order from the previous hearing.

When the lawyer pointed out that the ECP’s statement was being challenged in the LHC, an ECP member told him to trust the committee and not rush to the courts, saying the case may be decided differently than they had expected.