ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Friday a postponement of its intra-party elections, originally scheduled for February 5, citing the preoccupation of party leaders and workers in the ongoing poll campaign for the general elections.

A day earlier, on Thursday, the party had unexpectedly declared its intention to hold the intra-party elections on February 5. However, it soon became apparent that conducting the elections just before the general elections would not be feasible due to the extensive engagement of leaders and workers in their respective constituencies.

The party has now decided to reschedule the internal elections to take place shortly after the general elections, which are set for February 8. A new timeline for the intra-party elections will be released by the PTI.

The party leadership reached out to the chief organiser, requesting the postponement of the elections. Additionally, party members expressed their desire to defer the intra-party elections as they were heavily involved in electioneering activities in their areas.

Previously, the party’s federal election commissioner had issued the election schedule. According to the PTI’s statement on social media, all registered voters as of January 31 would have been eligible to participate in the voting process. Details regarding the panels contesting in the elections were made available on the official PTI website, along with the election rules outlined in the Election Rules, 2020.

Originally, polling was slated to occur on February 5 from 10 am to 5 pm. Nomination papers were to be received from the party’s central secretariat or official website from February 1 to 2, with the deadline for filing nomination papers set for February 2 at 10 pm.