LAHORE: The election tribunal has dismissed a petition filed by Dr. Yasmin Rashid, a senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), contesting the victory of Nawaz Sharif from Lahore’s NA-130 constituency in the 2024 general elections.
In April of the previous year, Yasmin Rashid, who is currently incarcerated, challenged Nawaz Sharif’s election win through her legal representatives, Ahmed Awais and Rana Mudassar. She contended that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued the official notification of Nawaz’s victory in a manner that violated electoral laws.
Rashid alleged that the election results had been manipulated to favor Nawaz Sharif, who is a three-time former Prime Minister and president of PML-N. After examining the arguments presented by both parties, Judge Justice (retd) Rana Zahid Mahmood declared that the notification confirming Nawaz Sharif’s victory from NA-130 Lahore was legitimate and valid.
During the election, Nawaz Sharif secured a total of 171,024 votes, while Yasmin Rashid, running as an independent candidate, received 115,043 votes. The PTI had claimed that their mandate was compromised, alleging discrepancies in the results, particularly pointing to alterations in Form 47, a document that details the unverified results of a constituency.
The PTI also asserted that they had won a total of 180 National Assembly seats, citing figures from Form 45, which records the votes counted at each polling station. Form 45, also known as the Presiding Officer’s Result sheet, is signed and thumb-printed by the presiding officer and contains the vote tally for each candidate at individual polling stations.
Form 47, on the other hand, compiles the vote counts from all polling stations within a constituency, providing a provisional overall result that excludes postal ballots. PTI’s claims revolve around alleged irregularities in these forms, which they argue indicate election manipulation.
