Pak poll body asks Imran Khan to respond to its notice by April 24

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Mohammad Raza have asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to respond to a contempt notice by April 24 or face action in connection with a foreign funding case.

The foreign funding case was first filed in November 2014 by a PTI founding member and former central vice president Akbar S Babar, who alleged major corruption and illegal foreign funding of the PTI.

The petitioner's lawyer, Syed Ahmed Hasan, was quoted by the Express Tribune, as saying in court that the ECP's jurisdiction to hear the case was constitutionally absolute and could not be questioned as per law.

Hasan pointed out the law that empowered the ECP to debar all those political office holders who were found guilty of illegally managing party accounts, including receiving foreign funds.

The CEC made it clear that by assuming that the ECP did not have power to hear the case, the PTI could not assume the right to abuse the constitutional body.