ISLAMABAD - The Election Commission of Pakistan Monday adjourned the hearing of disqualification reference against former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa minister and disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf member provincial assembly Ziaullah Afridi filed by the party chief Imran Khan till November 13th.

A three-member bench of the ECP, headed by Abdul Ghaffar Soomro resumed the hearing on Monday. The respondent, Afridi along with his legal counsel, Latif Khosa appeared before the commission.

During the proceedings, Khosa argued that his client had not resigned from the PTI and requested the court that he might be given extra time to submit a reply. He maintained that the disqualification reference against his client was “unjustifiable”.

At this, member of the bench Altaf Qureshi said that “you are asking for more time on the one hand, and on the other, you criticise the commission for delaying a case.”

Soomro remarked that the commission would make decision on the reference within the fixed time-frame and asked lawyers of both the parties to present their arguments at the next hearing.

Later, while talking to media persons outside the ECP, Khosa said that Afridi was expelled from the party for raising voice against the corruption of KPK chief minister.

He alleged that the chief minister himself was involved in corruption and every member of the provincial assembly had the right to speak against it.

Afridi’s lawyer said that a baseless reference had been filed against his client and alleged that the Ehtesab Commission of the KPK had been barred from working.

He opined that the Supreme Court might disqualify Imran Khan in the party funding case. For his part, Ziaullah Afridi said that Imran Khan himself was protecting corrupt people and added that he had filed cases against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and other ministers in Ehtesab Commission.