The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawyer on Tuesday argued before an Election Commission of Pakistan bench that the commission could not issue a verdict on the party’s foreign funding case as the ECP was not fully functional.

The ECP on Tuesday started hearing the PTI’s foreign funding case to meet a 30-day deadline set by the Islamabad High Court.

A three-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi heard the case.

At the onset of the hearing, PTI lawyer Advocate Anwar Mansoor argued the commission could not issue a verdict on the case as the ECP is not fully functional.

He said the scrutiny committee had declared the documents provided by Akbar S. Babar not accurate as the former PTI leader deviated from the issue.

Advocate Mansoor told the ECP bench that he would need three days to complete his arguments and that he would not be available from April 20.

The ECP adjourned the hearing of the case till next week.

The three-member scrutiny committee that investigated the PTI’s finances submitted its report in November last year. The ECP went back to hearing the case in December.

However, the scrutiny committee looking into the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party is yet to submit its report.

In November 2014, Akbar Sher Babar, one of the founding members of PTI, moved the ECP accusing the PTI of being a foreign funded party and seeking action against it in accordance with related constitutional provisions.