The Election Commission of Pakistan is set to conduct a hearing on the petitions filed challenging the intra-party elections of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on December 18.

A five-member bench of the ECP will hear the petitions at 10:00am on Monday, December 18.

The electoral body has summoned PTI chairman-designate Barrister Gohar Khan, PTI Chief Election Commissioner Niaz Ullah Niazi, and Omar Ayub along with others.

Barrister Gohar was elected unopposed chairman of PTI in the intra-party elections held on December 2. He was nominated by PTI founder Imran Khan.

Read: PTI to keep KP’s intra-party elections spot ‘secret’

As many as 13 petitions were filed including a petition by PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar against the PTI’s intra-party elections.

Among the leaders summoned were PTI presidents of Balochistan Munir Ahmed Baloch, Sindh’s Haleem Adil Sheikh, Punjab’s Dr Yasmin Rashid, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ali Amin Gandapur.

Barrister Gohar nominated by the former prime minister Imran Khan was the only candidate running for the top position while Ali Amin Gandapur had submitted his nomination papers as a candidate for the presidential slot.

Soon after the results were announced, PTI’s estranged leader Akbar S. Babar rejected the intra-party poll, saying decisions regarding the election of leadership were taken behind doors without workers’ participation.

“We had concerns long before the elections were held. Whatever happened today was a fraud and farce. It was a drama in the name of democracy. There is no concept of caretaker in the party’s constitution,” he said during a press conference in Islamabad.