Imran Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Fawad Chaudhry, the former minister of information, were indicted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday for contempt of the electoral body and the chief election commissioner.

The case was heard by a four-member bench of the electoral commission, led by Sindh member Nisar Ahmad Durrani, at the Adiala jail, where both leaders are detained.

During the hearing, the former minister and prime minister were present in the courtroom and refuted the accusations listed in the charge sheet.

The hearing on the contempt charge was then postponed by the ECP until January 16.

The electoral body had filed a contempt case against Fawad, the former leader of the PTI, Asad Umar, and the former chairman of the party for disparaging the commission and its head in a number of interviews, news conferences, and public gatherings.

Politicians are accused of making unparliamentary, impolite, and demeaning comments against the ECP on multiple occasions, according to the notice.

The political leaders were urged to clarify their positions either in person or through legal representation before the commission bench.

Rather than taking the bench by storm, they contested the commission’s authority in many high courts. Nonetheless, the commission was permitted to begin proceedings against them by the Supreme Court in January 2023, and on June 21 the ECP decided to file charges against them, albeit this has not yet been completed.

According to a copy of the charge sheet that Geo News has access to, the PTI founder and former minister began a disdainful campaign against the ECP in 2022.

The statement said, “The accused used non-parliamentary language against the ECP in a public gathering in Bhakkar on July 12, 2022,” and listed a few other incidents that were comparable.

The charge sheet also claimed that the accused violated the Election Act of 2017 by being in contempt of the ECP, and that the electoral body was authorized by the Supreme Court to take appropriate legal action against the accused.

In the sheet, the prosecution requested that the accused be put on trial in light of the evidence, papers, and recordings.

The PTI founder and former minister of information could not be charged by the electoral watchdog during the previous session on December 27.

The two-person charge sheeting and hearing were postponed until today, January 3.

Speaking to reporters outside Adiala jail, PTI leader Asghar Chaudhry claimed that an Election Commission of this kind had never been seen, not even during the martial law era.

“You took the candidates’ nomination papers away from them and rejected them. Even brutality has its limits,” he moaned.

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