The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been stopped by the Lahore and Sindh High Courts from taking action against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry in the contempt case against the party.
After the ECP had issued contempt notices against Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar for casting aspersions on the electoral body and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja earlier this month, Fawad Chaudhry had moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench.
During the hearing today (Tuesday), Fawad’s counsel Advocate Faisal Farid told Justice Jawad Hassan that the ECP was not a court and therefore was not constitutionally protected by the ‘contempt of court’ provisions.
Following this, the court sent a notice to the electoral watchdog seeking its response by September 7. In the notice, it also ordered the ECP to restrain from taking further action against PTI leaders Umar, Chaudhry and Khan.
Separately on Tuesday the ECP also held a hearing on the contempt case against the PTI leaders. During the hearing, Imran’s counsel Ali Bokhari asked for time to submit a response as he ‘was not sure why the notice had been served’.
He reminded the ECP that the order had been challenged in the SHC, while the LHC had ordered the ECP to desist from taking action. Later, PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry informed the court that the SHC had also asked the ECP to refrain from taking action against Asad Umar.
