Karachi, July 31, 2024: Lahore’s NA-130 constituency, where PML-N president Nawaz Sharif defeated PTI’s Yasmin Rashid in the 2024 general elections, is believed to have experienced the most severe rigging in Punjab’s electoral history, according to the civil society organization PATTAN.
“The National Assembly constituency NA-130 in Lahore likely witnessed the worst form of rigging since the 2002 general elections. Many Form-45s showed a turnout between 90 percent and 102 percent for NA-130, while for provincial assembly seats, it was about 40 percent,” PATTAN reported.
The organization alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) increased Nawaz Sharif’s share of polled votes on Form-45s, forcing election officials to inflate the overall turnout for the same polling stations, resulting in the creation of fake Form-47s.
“This manipulation led to significant discrepancies on the election result forms not only within NA-130 but also for provincial seats, exposing the scale of rigging,” the report stated.
PATTAN’s audit revealed a huge variance in shared polling stations (SPSs) established for NA-130 and PP-170, PP-173, and PP-174 – an extremely “peculiar and rare occurrence.” For instance, on 82 Form-45s, the average turnout for NA-130 was 86 percent, while in the same polling stations, the average turnout for provincial seats was just 41 percent – a staggering 45 percent gap.
“Similar gaps were observed in 36 other shared polling stations, where turnout was between 90 percent and 99 percent, but for provincial seats, it was less than 40 percent. On three Form-45s, the turnout for NA was 100 percent or more, while for provincial assembly it was less than 50 percent,” the report noted.
Overall, on 69 Form-45s of NA-130, the turnout was between 70 percent and over 100 percent. Out of these, 60 polling stations had a turnout between 80 percent and 99 percent – a rare phenomenon.
According to ECP Form-47, the turnout for NA-130 was 52.45 percent, while for PP-170, PP-173, and PP-174, it was 40.15 percent, 40.69 percent, and 38.24 percent, respectively. “This means about 12 percent of voters cast ballots for NA but did not vote for PP seats at all, which looks suspicious,” the report claimed.
Nawaz Sharif was shown as the winner on 166 or 44 percent of Form-45s, while Dr. Yasmin Rashid was declared the winner on 208 or 56 percent of forms. However, there appears to be a reverse relationship between share in polled votes and lead in polling stations.
In summary, PATTAN highlighted three unprecedented and peculiar trends from the audit of the ECP result forms:
- Exceptionally high turnout on almost one-fifth of Form-45s.
- Massive gap in turnout between national and provincial seats in shared polling stations.
- Turnout gap between Form-47 and Form-45s.
“These contradictory and dubious trends naturally create suspicion about the credibility of the elections and seriously damage public trust in electoral structures and democratic institutions,” the report stated.
PATTAN has called for a comprehensive and transparent investigation as soon as possible, emphasizing that the country cannot afford the continuation of ongoing political uncertainty.
