ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The recent intra-party elections in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) were held without fulfilling certain requirements of the party constitution and the Political Parties Ordinance (PPO) 2002, party sources told Dawn.
The polls saw all the sitting provincial heads returning to their offices, apparently setting a trend for the Aug 12 meeting when PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed are expected to be re-elected unopposed.
Former prime minister Zafarullah Jamali, who was previously believed to run for the top slot, is no longer a candidate against Chaudhry Shujaat.
In two districts of the Islamabad Federal Territory, primary elections have not been held as a local MNA, Asia Azeem Chaudhry, has challenged the voters’ list and selection of office-bearers.
The MNA provided a list of 8,000 voters to the election commission with their addresses, phone numbers, etc. She was asked to settle the matter through mutual understanding which she refused.
Ms Chaudhry challenged the existing voters’ list, claiming that 90 per cent of the entries in it were fake.
The sources said that no proper voters’ lists were prepared for the provincial elections as there existed no provincial councils. No formal polling was held and none of the top office-bearers was challenged.
All the remaining offices in provinces were thus left to the will of provincial presidents.
According to the PPO, a voters’ list should be scrutinised by competent authority. However, this was missing from the whole process. Even a general council was not announced.
