Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Photo: Screenshot
LAHORE:
An election court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification declaring Nawaz Sharif the winner in Lahore’s NA-130, dismissing a challenge filed by PTI leader Dr Yasmin Rashid.
The decision ends Dr Yasmin’s attempt to overturn Sharif’s victory in the February 2024 general elections in the constituency, also known as NA-130 (Lahore-XIV).
The court, headed by Justice Rana Zahid Mahmood, rejected Dr Yasmin’s plea on technical grounds. The ruling means that the official result reported by the ECP will remain valid.
According to the published results of the February 8, 2024 election, the three-time Prime Minister got 179,310 votes in NA-130, while Dr. Yasmin got 104,485.
The PTI leader had approached the court in the weeks after the election, arguing through her lawyers that the ECP did not follow proper procedure when notifying Sharif’s victory. He alleged that the result had been manipulated in his favor and requested that the notification be quashed.
His legal team maintained that the outcome was based on incorrect documentation and flawed processes. They argued that the consolidated results of the ECP, commonly referred to in public debate as Form-47, contradicted the polling station-level results recorded in Form-45, which they claimed showed a different result.
Form 45 is the official “count result” prepared at each polling station and signed by polling staff. It has been repeatedly cited by PTI-backed candidates in post-election challenges across the country following the 2024 general election, forming the basis of multiple petitions challenging the official results.
The court’s decision in NA-130 was one of several expected rulings in election disputes filed after the February 2024 election, as courts continue to consider challenges focused on alleged discrepancies between polling station records and consolidated results.
The February 8 general election was followed by weeks of disputes and competing claims over the results in multiple constituencies, with PTI-backed candidates alleging that the results were altered during consolidation and notification.
