ISLAMABAD, March 1: Two estranged leaders of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians on Friday filed a petition with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) challenging the PPP’s intra-party polls.

Former senator Safdar Ali Abbasi and member of National Assembly Agha Nasir Ali Shah in a joint petition urged the ECP to declare the intra-party elections as farcical and a mala fide exercise ‘only on paper’ that failed to fulfil the statuary requirements of the Political Parties Order, 2002. As a consequential relief, they prayed to the commission not to allocate any election symbol to the party for the general election.

Law Minister Farooq H. Naek, who reportedly conducted intra-party elections for various tiers of the PPP in his capacity as chief election commissioner, has been made respondent in the petition.

“The questionable mode and manner in which these elections were held has raised many eyebrows because fundamental flaws have been noticed by many members of the party, the general public and the media,” the application reads.

It said nobody in the party had any knowledge about the date of filing of nomination papers, their scrutiny and even the election date. The whole process was completed secretly until final announcement about new office-bearers.

Seemingly it has been an exercise only on papers, and predetermined results were announced. The news of such intra-party elections stated that all candidates were returned unopposed and no one else filed nomination papers except sitting office bearers.

It was pointed out that no notification for the formation of an election commission for holding intra-party elections was ever issued or publicised. No list of members was available to party members. No schedule for such elections was ever notified or publicised. Such a surreptitious exercise has made the party a laughing stock.

None of the members was aware of whether any elections were to be held within the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians. This has led to widespread criticism within and outside the party, consequently damaging the democratic credentials of the party itself.

It said, for the last few years, key decisions to the party’s political strategy and nominations of office bearers had been effected arbitrarily and not processed through any intra-party democratic device at all.

Even otherwise, the absence of transparent intra-party elections means that there is no mechanism for new entrants to politics or old party workers for making their way up in the existing hierarchy.

Chief of Pakistan Peoples Party (Shaheed Bhutto) Ghinva Bhutto has also filed an application with the ECP seeking enlistment of her party with the name of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and allocation of ‘sword’ as its election symbol.

It has been pointed out that no party with the name was enlisted with the commission.