Senator Barrister Ali Zafar of PTI has declared the party’s intent to approach the Supreme Court to challenge alleged discrepancies in last month’s election Form-45s.
They seek a detailed, unbiased audit of the electoral outcome. Addressing media outside the Islamabad High Court, Zafar criticized the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for distributing tampered Form-45s and unfairly reallocating reserved seats from the Sunni Ittehad Council, now aligned with PTI, to other parties.
Despite a favourable ruling from the Peshawar High Court applicable to provincial and national assemblies, PTI faces denial of reserved seats for women and minorities, an issue they plan to contest in provincial high courts.
The demand for an election audit gains momentum following the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency’s (Pildat) critical report. The report questions the integrity of the 2024 General Election and urges the ECP to conduct a comprehensive review.
The PTI spokesperson highlighted concerns over election fairness, pointing to the delayed election schedule and communication blackouts on polling day as evidence of the most biased election in a decade. The spokesperson accused the ECP of violating the Election Act through late publication of Form-45s, suggesting a deliberate effort to skew election results and alleging the imposition of an unconstitutional government. PTI argues that the manipulation of electoral outcomes and misallocation of reserved seats exacerbate political instability, calling into question the legitimacy and efficacy of the current government.
