The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday deferred the indictment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman in a contempt case till August 2. However, the four-member ECP bench presided over by Nisar Durrani suspended its arrest warrants of the accused on his appearance before the Commission. The ECP has been carrying out contempt proceedings against the PTI chief for using “indecent” language against the electoral body and the Chief Election Commissioner. The PTI chief’s counsel, Shoaib Shaheen, requested for an adjournment of the hearing till September, stating that he was a new lawyer in the case and needed time to gather all the facts. The bench accepted the request and rescheduled the hearing for August 2, when it would frame charges against the PTI chief. The ECP had initiated contempt proceedings against the PTI chief, party leader Asad Umar and former information minister Chaudhry last year for allegedly using “intemperate” language against the chief election commissioner and the electoral watchdog. However, instead of appearing before the ECP, the three had challenged the ECP notices and contempt proceedings in various high courts on the grounds that Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017, which is the statutory provision regarding the commission’s power to punish for contempt, was against the Constitution. The PTI leaders had also sought from the high courts a declaratory relief from the charges. But in January, the Supreme Court had allowed the ECP to continue proceedings against Imran, Chaudhry and Umar, and on June 21, the ECP had decided to frame charges against the trio. In the July 11 hearing, they did not appear before the commission despite being summoned, following which the ECP issued arrest warrants for Chau-dhry and Imran. It had, however, accepted a plea by Umar’s lawyer to allow him an exemption from the hearing.