Lahore:

The victory of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in the Lahore National Assembly seats was challenged in the Lahore High Court on Saturday, alleging that the top poll body did not follow the correct program.

Challenging the victory of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate in the Lahore High Court (LHC), several failed PTI-backed candidates claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared “fake” result sheets They replaced Form-45 for Winner-47.

Form 45, often referred to as the “count results” form, is an important record of the electoral process in Pakistan and is designed to maintain openness and accountability by recording and disclosing the results of the voting process at a specific polling station.

A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates are contesting as independents after the European Communist Party snatched away the iconic cricket bat symbol of the party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Even as the PTI-backed Independence Party has emerged as the largest party and won more than 100 clear victories, the party is still expected to gain at least 50 more National Assembly seats.

Mr Sharif, 74, won in NA-130 with over 1,72,000 votes against PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid who polled over 113,000 votes while his 50-year-old daughter Maryam Maryam Nawaz won in NA-119, polling over 83,000 votes against PTI’s Farooq Shahzad. The bagged quantity exceeds 68,000 pieces.

Dr Rashid, one of the LHC petitioners, stated that she had won the seat against Sharif as per Form 45, however, the ECP issued Form 47 declaring the PML-N supremo successful.

Likewise, Shehzad said Maryam lost her seat based on the polling station results (Form 45) but “she was declared successful through a forged Form 47”. Another PTI-backed failed candidate challenged the victory of former PPP prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Multan.

Shaher Bano, daughter of former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was languishing in Rawalpindi Adiala jail along with PTI founder Khan, also Her failure was challenged with similar accusations.

“About 30 million votes were cast across the country for PTI-backed candidates,” PTI Secretary Omar Ayub Khan said, noting that the country defeated multiple political parties in the elections.

He directed all party candidates and polling agents to collect Form 45 and file lawsuits in court for “manipulation of the results”, stressing that the results had not yet been consolidated.

Hammad Azhar, general secretary of Mr Khan’s PTI party Central Punjab, claimed that Nawaz Sharif, his brothers, family members and key leaders of the Muslim League-Sharif faction suffered a crushing defeat in the election. And said: “PTI candidates won by a huge margin of 50,000 to 100,000 votes, but they were defeated with a stroke of a pen.” The PTI leader said: “We have all the evidence of fraud, and several defeated candidates Proceedings are being filed in court.”

Meanwhile, Khan’s lawyer Ali Zafar told reporters on Saturday that the PTI had won more than 150 National Assembly seats but its candidates had only been declared successful in about 100 seats. “We hope the court will entertain our petition and we will get at least 50 seats. NA is sitting at the back,” he said.

Incidentally, the Free and Fair Elections Network (FAFEN), an independent watchdog that monitors elections in Pakistan, on Saturday also highlighted various gray areas in the recently held polls, stating that presiding officials at 29% of polling stations failed to provide forms to observers 45.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)