ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan dismissed a disqualification reference filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against its disgruntled member Ayesha Gulalai.
The election regulator had reserved the verdict regarding the reference filed by PTI chairman Imran Khan seeking to denotify Gulalai as she deviated from party policy, however, on Tuesday the ECP announced the verdict paving the way for Gulalai to retain her membership.
The ECP’s decision was given after three out of five members supported Gulalai’s stance that she could not be disqualified.
During the successive hearings, PTI’s counsel had argued that it is the party leadership’s prerogative if they want to take action against party member or not.
The lawyer said that Gulalai could not attend the assembly session when the new prime minister was elected due to sickness, but conducted a press conference, the same day.
Gulalai’s lawyer, in turn, said that her client’s response to the PTI show cause notice wasn’t accepted.
“The PTI’s stance that it didn’t receive the answer to the show cause notice is incorrect,” said the lawyer.
