Imran Khan may become PTI’s ‘Patron-in-Chief’ considered appointing him “Patron-in-Chief” to avoid
The PTI chief is facing criminal charges in the Toshkana case after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from NA-95 (Mianwali-1) constituency for allegedly filing false details of assets .
The Election Commission had last month initiated action against Khan after he was found guilty in the Toshkana scam. However, the PTI chairman approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the ECP’s move to bar him from leading his party and obtained a stay order in his favour.
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LHC Justice Jawad Hasan, who was hearing the case, restrained the ECP from taking any adverse action against Khan and proposed to the Chief Justice that a larger bench should decide the case.
In a meeting on Friday, party veterans discussed the legal aspects of the matter and considered appointing Khan as the patron-in-chief.
Party insiders claim that PTI has a backup strategy to fight the legal capacity to remove Khan from the post of PTI chairman.
“Even after the new appointment, he will have full authority to oversee party affairs,” the report said.
There would be no need to amend the party constitution for the new position, he added.
ECP will hear the matter on January 25
The Election Commission would take up the matter on 25 January after it was informed that the LHC had restrained the commission from removing Khan from the post of his party’s president.
The PTI chief’s counsel told a five-judge ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja that he had not received the order for the previous hearing.
When the lawyer pointed out that the ECP’s notice was challenged in the LHC, an ECP member asked him to have faith in the commission and not rush to go to court, saying the decision in the matter might be different from his which they were anticipating.