Rawalpindi – Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat on Friday claimed that Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was “removed” as the chairman of the party. Marwat insisted that the decision was taken after the party delivered an “unsatisfactory” performance. The remarks from the Pakistani politician came a day after Gohar announced that the party's next chairman nominee will be Barrister Ali Zafar. The proclamations by both politicians were made ahead of the party's intra-party polls which are scheduled to take place on March 3. 

“Incompetence and poor performance are the reasons behind Gohar’s removal as chairman. Barrister Gohar is a gentleman but his performance was not satisfactory," Marwat told Geo News on Friday. The PTI leader emphasised that Gohar failed to meet the party workers' “expectations”. “To run a party office, one has to be active all the time, but this did not happen," he added. The top post in the erstwhile ruling party has been lying vacant for over a month after both the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the country's Supreme Court declared its intra-party poll as “unlawful”. Hence, Gohar who became the chairperson of the party at that time had to step down from his post. During the interview, Marwat mentioned that the party performed well in the polls, and Gohar failed to lead the party afterwards.  

What lies ahead? 

A day before Marwat's proclamation, Gohar announced the nominee for the upcoming intra-party polls.  “This time, our candidate for party chairman will be Barrister Ali Zafar and Omar Ayub secretary general," he said urging the party workers to do everything in power to ensure that Zafar is elected as the party's next chairman. Earlier this month, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan announced that the intra-party polls will be conducted on February 5. However, the elections were postponed since the party wanted to focus on the 2024 Pakistan General Elections. According to PTI's new election schedule, all the candidates who will be contesting in the intra-party polls will have to submit their nomination papers by February 23 and 24 and the scrutiny will be carried out on February 25. After the scrutiny, the final decisions on nomination papers will be announced on  February 27 and the polling will be held on March 3 at the party's central office as well as provincial secretariats.