Pakistan's top election body indicts Imran Khan, former aide Fawad Chaudhry in contempt case

Pakistan's top election body on Wednesday indicted jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his ex-information minister Fawad Chaudhry in a contempt case.

Khan, 71, is the founding chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Chaudhry a senior former member of his party. The two leaders were booked in 2022 for allegedly using foul language against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and chief election commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.

A four-member panel of the ECP conducted the proceedings at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where both Khan and Chaudhry have been incarcerated in different cases.

The two leaders were indicted on charges of insulting the electoral body and the CEC. Both were present in the courtroom when the charges were read and they denied the allegations mentioned in the charge sheet.

After the indictment, the panel adjourned the hearing on the contempt case to 16 January.

The indictment comes after several delays in the case, which was first being heard in the ECP building, but the police refused to present Khan for indictment owing to security reasons, forcing the commission to shift the hearing to the Adiala Jail on 6 December.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.