Islamabad.  The investigation into the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) intra-party election is going to resume. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will investigate it on July 23. The matter has come up after being postponed twice since May. A five-member ECP panel led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja will decide the matter. 

This dispute started after June 9, 2022 

The upcoming session will be the first hearing in the case after PTI Chief Election Commissioner Rauf Hassan was questioned by the ECP on March 3 regarding the party's internal election process. According to a report by Dawn, the dispute began on June 9, 2022, when the PTI held its intra-party elections. However, the elections were later invalidated by the ECP in November 2023. 

The ECP directed the PTI to hold fresh elections within 20 days if it wanted to retain its Bat symbol for the upcoming general elections. Political campaigns intensified across the country after this.

Why were the elections cancelled after 20 days?

The PTI immediately called for fresh intra-party elections to be held on December 2, 2023. However, the ECP annulled the elections just 20 days later, following an unprecedentedly detailed investigation of the political party's internal mechanisms. The ECP has barred the PTI from using its election symbol in the impending general elections, triggering political turmoil.