The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday said it has no option but to file a charge sheet after November 10 against PTI chief Imran Khan, leader Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry in the contempt of court case. It won’t happen.
A four-member bench headed by member Nisar Durrani heard the contempt of court case against Imran Khan and other PTI leaders. Advocate Anwar Mansoor appeared on behalf of PTI.
During the hearing, Advocate Mansoor argued that the notices were issued by the Secretary of the Election Commission and not by the Election Supervisor.
“The show cause notice is illegal until the issue is resolved. The show cause notice is signed by the Director General of Law,” he added.
The commission member said that the notice was issued by the ECP and not to the secretary. “He just reported,” he added.
The PTI counsel urged the ECP to release his charge sheet after October 31 as the Lahore High Court is also hearing a similar case. He added that Umar received threats last night and there is no security for him.
On this, the ECP member said that they will have no option but to issue the charge sheet after November 10.
The ECP had on August 19 issued notices to Khan, Chaudhry and Umar for their “insulting” remarks against the election watchdog. In its notices, the ECP accused the former prime minister of making “baseless allegations” against the ECP and its chief in his addresses on July 18, 21, 27, 4 and 10.
However, on September 2, the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court suspended the contempt notices issued by the ECP to the PTI leaders.
A day earlier, the ECP filed a petition in the Supreme Court urging the apex court to lift the injunction issued by the Lahore High Court.
In its petition, the ECP requested the Supreme Court to quash the injunction issued by the High Court. The election watchdog sought permission from the court to proceed with contempt of court proceedings against the PTI leaders.
