Pakistan: Petitions by losing candidates flood courts as Imran Khan’s supporters challenge poll results

It was revealed on Sunday that losing candidates in Pakistan’s fiercely contested general elections have swamped the country’s courts with applications contesting the preliminary results in their districts. The number of independent candidates, the great majority of whom were supported by the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, emerged as the single largest block of winners in the elections held on February 8, even though the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the single largest party. The PTI said that although the candidates it supported had won the most seats, the results had been tampered with to deny it the majority, and its defeated candidates had flooded the courts to reverse the trend. Many prominent politicians, including former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi and his wife Qaisera, former finance minister Taimoor Jhagra and former KP speaker Mahmood Jan, Islamabad-based lawyer Shuaib Shaheen, former Punjab health minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid, and Rehana Dar, mother of Usman Dar, who oversaw youth affairs in the PTI government, are among those who have filed challenges against the results, according to a report in the Dawn newspaper. The triumphs of former defense minister Khawaja Asif, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and PML-N Attaullah Tarar in Lahore were challenged in separate petitions before the high court, accusing them of manipulating Form 47s, which displayed the combined results of every seat. The petitioners assert that they defeated their opponents based on the Form 45 that was given to them, which shows the results of each polling place. But without them, their wins in the Form 47 were purportedly reversed into losses. Additionally, they have demanded that the Form 47 results be generated in accordance with the Form 45s and have accused cooperation in the altering of election results. Omar Dar’s wife, Ruba Omar, has challenged the election results in PP 146 Sialkot. According to Form 45, Ruba Omar has won, however she was plainly beaten in Form 47 owing to cooperation. Independent candidate Shahzad Farooq has contested Maryam’s victory from NA-119, claiming that the returning officer announced the results while he was away and that the presiding officers failed to provide Form 45. Although Farooq says he defeated Maryam, the match was rigged. Zahir Abbas Khokhar has contested PML-N’s Atta Tarar’s election from NA-127, arguing that Tarar lost in accordance with Form 45 but declared himself the winner in Form 47 with clear cooperation. Three PTI candidates filed a lawsuit in Karachi with the Sindh High Court, claiming that the Returning Officers (ROs), those who put together Form 47, and other parties broke electoral laws and rigged the whole thing. The contenders in NA-238 (East-IV), NA-248 (Central-II), and NA-231 (Malir-III) are PTI provincial chief Haleem Adil Sheikh, Arsalan Khalid, and advocate Khalid Mehmood, respectively. The PTI Sindh president contended that he had a clear lead of about 65,000 votes based on the Form 45 that his election agents had collected from every polling place. However, the petitioner was ranked second with over 36,800 votes, and MQM-P’s Sadiq Iftikhar was shown as the winner from NA-238 with over 54,000 votes in the contested Form 47. Members of Imran Khan’s legal team, Muhammad Shuaib Shaheen, and Mohammad Ali Bukhari of the PTI have attacked their defeats at the hands of Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of the PML-N and Independent candidate Raja Khurram Shehzad, respectively, in Islamabad. The two candidates filed their petitions in the IHC, but the registrar office objected, saying the petitioner should go to the proper forum. The candidates then filed their application with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Nine PTI-backed independents, including six former lawmakers, filed petitions challenging the results of the provisional elections in their respective constituencies. The Peshawar High Court will hear the cases, and Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Syed Arshad Ali will preside over the hearings. Former KP Assembly deputy speaker Mahmood Jan (PK-72), former provincial ministers Taimoor Jhagra (PK-79) and Kamran Khan Bangash (PK-82), former MNAs Sajid Nawaz Khan (NA-28) and Hamidul Haq (PK-80), former lawmaker Arbab Jehandad Khan (PK-74), former Peshawar district nazim Mohammad Asim (PK-78), and attorneys Ali Zaman (PK-73) and Malik Shahab (PK-75) are among the petitioners. The legal disputes typically linger in the courts for weeks or months at a time and have no bearing on how governments are formed. Candidates also employ some of these hurdles as a means of preserving their reputations.