Daily Times

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 25 political parties including Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and PPP-S of Ghanwa Bhutto ineligible for participating in the next general elections.

The ECP said the parties had been declared ineligible to contest next general election for failing to hold intra-party elections within the due timeframe or not providing the party accounts to the commission.

According to ECP, PTI having the election symbol of ‘bat’ has been declared ineligible for not holding intra-party elections. However, the party account has been declared okay. According to the ECP, intra-party elections of the PTI were due on March 23 this year but have not been held so far, rendering the party ineligible to contest next elections.

The JI of Sirajul Haq and PAT of Dr Tahirul Qadri have also been declared ineligible on the same grounds as they too failed to hold intra-party elections which were due on March 30, 2017 and February 04, 2016 respectively. The PPP (S) was declared ineligible for next elections for failing to hold intra-party elections that were due last year. The All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) of Pervaiz Musharraf having election symbol of ‘eagle’ was declared ineligible for failing to provide details of its accounts and finances as well as failure hold intra-party elections since 2015.

Among other parties in the ‘not eligible’ list, two are the leftist parties including the Communist Party of Pakistan and Awami Workers Party while two parties belong to minorities namely All Pakistan Christian League and Christian Progressive Movement. While, some of the regional parties especially those raising voice for the rights of southern Punjab including Seraikistan Qaumi Ittehad, Seraiki Sooba Movement Pakistan, Pakistan Seraiki Party, Awami Tehreek Bahali-e-Soba Bahawalpur Pakistan, Bahawalpur National Awami Party and Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara are also on the list. Some other prominent political parties like Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party, Afgan Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) and Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) as well as four religious parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani), Markazi Jamiat Mushaikh Pakistan, Sunni Ittehad Council and Pakistan Sunni Tehreek have also been declared ineligible to contest next elections.

Sources said all the parties falling in the ECP list can reverse their status (of being not eligible) after fulfilling the basic requirement of holding intra-party elections or providing account details before start of the process of next general elections due in 2018. Imran Khan has already announced intra-party elections in the second week of next month.