ISLAMABAD, July 17: The Pakistan Muslim League (Q) is in a quandary over the intra-party polls required under sections 12 and 13 of the Political Parties Act, 2002.

The main reason being the fear that party President Mian Azhar may lose the office if elections were held through secret ballot being the requirement of the Political Parties Act, source said.

A six-member delegation of the party met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Irshad Hasan Khan at his office on Wednesday and discussed with him various issues, including intra-party polls. However, the party failed to get any assurance from the CEC, the sources said.

The CEC made it clear to the delegation that issue of election symbol was linked with the fulfilment of the requirements of Political Parties Act relating to the party elections and accounts documents etc.

Talking to Dawn, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani, a member of the delegation, said the party might hold elections to party seats to meet the requirements of Political Parties Act, 2002.

A party press release said: “A PML(Q) delegation, led by acting party secretary-general Ghulam Sarwar Cheema, held a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner and discussed with him matters relating to the code of conduct for the next polls and to seek clarification in some other matters.”

The meeting discussed matters relating to election of Senate and reserved seats for women in the national and provincial assemblies, it said.

The sources said top leaders of the PML(Q) were considering various options to prevent a direct clash between Mian Azhar and Ejazul Haq, who has thrown an open challenge to the presidency of Mian Azhar.

Ejazul Haq had told this scribe the other day that the Election Commission had rejected the party’s request to exempt it from producing documents of elections to all party offices.