A Lahore court on Saturday gave Prime Minister Imran Khan’s lawyer more time to furnish his reply in a Rs100 million defamation suit filed by former interim Punjab chief minister Najam Sethi against him.

Additional Sessions Judge Amjad Ali Shah resumed the hearing of the case as a lawyer representing the prime minister appeared in the court. He requested the judge to give him more time to submit his response to the suit.

Granting the counsel’s request, the court directed him to file his response on next hearing set for May 30.

Najma Sethi had gone to the court, filing a defamation suit against the premier after he accused the former of fixing 35 punctures in the 2013 general elections.

He contended Imran levelled the allegations that he being an interim chief minister helped in rigging 35 seats in the 2013 general elections.

Sethi said he had also sent a legal notice through his lawyer to Imran Khan but he did not respond.

Upon Imran’s failure to respond despite the passage of six months of serving a legal notice, he said he had to file a suit for defamation against the prime minister as he was continuously trying to malign his reputation through his “derogatory and false statements.”