Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday, challenging the non-bailable arrest warrants issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against him on contempt charges.

Filed by his counsel Babar Awan, the petition argues that the ECP has no authority to issue non-bailable arrest warrants against the PTI chief.

The warrants issued by the commission on October 12 are therefore unconstitutional, claims the petition, which names ECP and PTI dissident Akbar S. Babar as respondents.

The issuance of arrest warrants by the commission has caused the PTI chief "mental anguish" and political opponents are directing their criticism at him, reads the petition.

The application urges the high court to suspend the warrants issued by ECP. The petition was received by the registrar office of IHC.

The warrants were issued last week following Khan’s continuous failure to appear before the commission on the show-cause notice issued on August 24 over his “defaming and scandalising” the ECP in the foreign-funding case, which seeks Khan's disqualification on charges of collecting party funds from "prohibited" sources.

Hours after the issuance of the warrants, Khan had told a TV channel that he would not appear before the commission and was instead ready to be arrested.

The contempt application was filed on Jan 23 this year by the PTI’s founding member and former vice president Akbar S. Babar, who developed differences with Khan in 2011 over alleged internal corruption and illegal funding of the PTI. The ECP verdict was announced a day after a three-member larger bench of the IHC directed the ECP to proceed on the contempt application.

The commission directed the authorities concerned to arrest Khan and present him before it on October 26.

Earlier on September 14, the ECP had issued bailable arrest warrants against Imran Khan following his failure to show up for the contempt of court proceedings, which were later suspended by the IHC on the PTI’s petition.