Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif loses in Mansehra, ‘Mysteriously’ wins in Lahore

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif contested the 2024 National Election from 02 constituencies – in Mansehra he lost but he has been ‘mysteriously’ declared winner from Lahore. Read More

Saturday February 10, 2024 2:26 AM , ummid.com News Network

Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif contested the 2024 National Election from 02 constituencies – in Mansehra he lost but he has been ‘mysteriously’ declared winner from Lahore.

Local media reports said, Nawaz Sharif lost the 2024 National Assembly Elections from Mansehra-cum-Torghar (NA-15) seat to Shehzada Muhammad Ghustab Khan - Independent candidate backed by Imran Khan’s PTI.

Reports citing vote count data released by the Election Commission of Pakistan said that Nawaz Sharif was trailing behind Dr. Yasmin Rashid - an Independent candidate backed by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) in Lahore (NA-130 seat).

Dr Yasmeen’s lead over Nawaz Sharif surged with every counting rounds. Suddenly, the Election Commission stopped updating the vote count result, local reporters and PTI workers alleged.

Discrepancies in Form 47

Later, the election commission announced Nawaz Sharif the winner from the Lahore National Assembly seat. However, the Form-47 released by the Returning Officer raised serious questions over the victory of Nawaz Sharif.

The Form-47 gives details of registered votes, votes polled and number of votes secures by the candidates in the fray.

The PTI workers and local media reports highlighting discrepancies in the Form 47 said it showed total polled votes in NA-130 seat as 293,693 whereas the valid votes shown are 294,043.

“Valid votes are 350 more than the polled votes. How is it possible”, TC anchors are asking.

Moreover, the Form 47 said 650 votes were found invalid and were not counted.

'Other discrepancy'

The other discrepancy highlighted in the vote result is zero votes polled by other candidates in the fray who besides independents also included Jamat e Ismali, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamiat Ulemae Pakistan and other parties.

“It means the Independents and the candidates from other parties did not vote for even themselves”, PTI said.

Following the widespread allegations of rigging in favour of Nawaz Sharif, the Election Commission of Pakistan removed the Form 46 from its website. It later published an updated details.

The PTI however is considering to challenge the Lahore election result.

Not only in Lahore, the PTI is alleging widespread rigging and manipulations in other constituencies. The party says in at least 50 seats, the election results that were going in the PTI and party backed candidates were rigged and reversed.

Social media is also flooded with videos showing alleged rigging in the elections and questioning the “fair elections”.

In more than one case, some PTI candidates have already approached the court challenging the result. The PTI workers have also taken to the streets in different parts of the country to protest against the alleged rigging.

Overall Results

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Election Commission is also facing the wrath of the people for not declaring the final result even after more than 24 hours.

As per the media reports and unofficial results and projections by the respective parties, Independents backed by Imran Khan’s PTI have won / leading in 96 seats, Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N is ahead on 70 seats, Asif Zardari’s PPP is leading in 53 seats and MQM-P on 15 seats.

The 2024 National Elections are a huge setback for Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulama e Islam (JUIF).The party is leading on just 02 seats. Making worst for it voters have rejected Maulana Fazlur Rehman also who lost his seat (NA-265 Pishin) to Ali Amin Gandapu of PTI.

Polling for the 265 National Assembly seats in Pakistan were held on Thursday February 08, 2024.

The elections have been tough for Imran Khan as he was in jail and a number of PTI candidates were forced to contest as independent. The PTI was also snatched of its party symbol and the party candidates were assigned ridiculous symbols in many cases.

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