The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday issued a show cause notice to Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan in a contempt of court case. In its ruling, the commission has given chairman PTI time till August 23 to submit his reply with the ECP. The commission stated that it can take action on contempt case as it is in its jurisdiction.
Khan had challenged ECP's powers to initiate contempt of court proceedings against him and the commission had reserved its decision on July 25. Khan through his counsel Babar Awan submitted before an ECP tribunal on July 10 that the right to initiate contempt proceedings rests with the Supreme Court and high courts.
A five-member ECP tribunal, headed by Chief Election Commissioner former Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, had issued the contempt notice to the chairman PTI on January 24 in response to a petition filed by Akbar S Babar, a former member of PTI, seeking Khan's disqualification on contempt charges.