Differentiate the spatial projection tensor before making any contractions:
For the spatial projector derivative identity, its first term vanishes after projection on . The definition of the extrinsic curvature of a spatial hypersurface then gives the stronger tensor identity
Here remains a free index. For a normal to a genuine foliation, the extrinsic curvature is symmetric: projecting gives zero because locally is a scalar multiple of a time gradient. This is hypersurface orthogonality implies symmetric extrinsic curvature.
Contract with in the stronger identity to obtain exactly the contraction displayed in the PDF:
The last equality follows from the transversality of the extrinsic curvature. Thus the literal printed identity is valid, although both its sides vanish; the uncontracted identity explains its geometric origin.