Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) is counting the days till party chief Imran Khan can take up the country’s top job. At this point, he is the most probable candidate for the position; however, there are several minor glitches in his path before becoming the country’s next Prime Minister. Despite gaining a majority in the National Assembly (NA), the final decision is dependent on the constituencies whose result the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has withheld - because of which the party has seen a drop in seats from 116 to 112 in the parliament.
Three of these constituencies are those from which Khan had won - these include Bannu NA-35, Mianwali NA-95, and Karachi NA-243. Furthermore, Imran Khan has been conditionally offered a result in one “pending an ECP inquiry” – presumably for his disregard for the rules set up by ECP during the process of voting. Khan went ahead to vote in front of the cameras, and according to the rule book that can not only result in a fine but imprisonment too.
If that was not troubling enough, Imran Khan had to appear before NAB in Peshawar to be answerable about the misuse of a governmental helicopter for personal use. This case has been pending since before the elections, and while the party maintains that there has been no violation of law, only Rs2.1 million has been paid to the government as payment for use of the helicopter for 72 hours. The price to actually be paid for was Rs11.1 million. The inquiry in such cases, if proven correct can leave several supporters is dismay, denting the goodwill the party is riding on
Lastly, NAB has summoned party leader Aleem Khan in a case of failure to give money trail in accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income. This is a worry since Aleem Khan is being considered for several ministries while the investigation is on-going. It is very important for PTI to stick to its stance of personal accountability, otherwise, if the law proves any wrongdoings, the party will not have much credibility left and the entire accountability narrative will come back to haunt the party.
All these matters though may seem less potent, but these decisions will affect the party in both cases. If they are found clean, it will set the right precedent of appearing before the court to be answerable to the law of the land. However, if they are proven guilty, then the legitimacy of the party’s claims will be in question.