PATTAN exposes historic worst rigging in Nawaz’s constituency

ISLAMABAD: Lahore’s NA-130 constituency, where PML-N president Nawaz Sharif defeated PTI’s Yasmin Rashid in the 2024 general elections, may have experienced the “worst form of rigging” in Punjab’s electoral history, according to a civil society organization, PATTAN, on Wednesday.

“The National Assembly constituency NA-130 of Lahore likely experienced the worst rigging ever in Punjab’s electoral history since the 2002 general elections, with many Form-45s showing a turnout between 90% and 102% for NA-130, while provincial assembly seats had about 40% turnout,” stated PATTAN in a report.

The organization claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) seemingly increased Nawaz Sharif’s share of votes on Forms-45, compelling election officials to inflate the overall turnout for the same polling stations, leading to the creation of fake Form-47s.

“This manipulation caused significant discrepancies in election result forms within NA-130 and with provincial seats, exposing the extent of the rigging,” the report added.

PATTAN’s audit revealed a huge variance in shared polling stations (PSs) established for NA-130 and PP-170, PP-173, and PP-174, calling it an “extremely peculiar and rare occurrence.”

For example, on 82 Form-45s, the average turnout for NA-130 was 86%, while the same polling stations showed a 41% average turnout for provincial seats, a staggering 45% gap. Similar gaps were noted in 36 other shared polling stations, where turnout was between 90% and 99% for NA-130 but less than 40% for provincial seats. On three Form-45s, the turnout for NA was over 100%, while it was less than 50% for provincial assembly seats.

Overall, on 69 Form-45s of NA-130, the turnout was between 70% and over 100%, with 60 polling stations showing an 80% to 99% turnout, a rare phenomenon.

According to ECP Form-47, the turnout for NA-130 was 52.45%, while for PP-170, PP-173, and PP-174, it was 40.15%, 40.69%, and 38.24%, respectively. “This means about 12% of voters cast ballots for NA but did not vote for PP seats, which looks suspicious,” PATTAN claimed.

Nawaz Sharif was shown as the winner on 166 or 44% of Form-45s, while Dr. Yasmin Rashid was declared the winner on 208 or 56% of forms. However, there appears to be a reverse relationship between the share of polled votes and the lead in polling stations.

In summary, PATTAN identified three unprecedented and peculiar trends from the audit of ECP result forms:

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1. Exceptionally high turnout on almost one-fifth of Form-45s.
2. Massive gap in turnout between national and provincial seats in shared polling stations.
3. Turnout gap between Form-47 and Form-45s.

“These contradictory and dubious trends naturally create suspicion about the election’s credibility and seriously damage public trust in electoral structures and democratic institutions,” PATTAN stated.

The organization called for a comprehensive and transparent investigation as soon as possible, stating that the country cannot afford the continuation of the ongoing political uncertainty.