In Pakistan’s recent general elections, an intriguing statistical observation emerged: the number of rejected ballots surpassed the margin of victory in at least 24 National Assembly constituencies, potentially paving the way for legal disputes as several defeated candidates have lodged petitions to contest the results.
As per a report in the Dawn newspaper, Punjab accounted for 22 of these constituencies, with one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh province.
Among the winning parties in these constituencies, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secured victory in 13, followed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in five, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents in four, and two for other independent candidates.
Given their respective numerical strengths, both the PML-N and the PPP are capable of forming a coalition government at the center. However, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif advocated for a coalition involving all parties except PTI.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) latest results until Sunday, PTI-backed Independents secured 93 out of 265 National Assembly seats, followed by PML-N with 73, PPP with 54, MQM with 17, and others with 19.
The constituency with the highest number of rejected votes was NA-59 (Talagang-cum-Chakwal) in Punjab, where PML-N’s Sardar Ghulam Abbas secured victory with 141,680 votes against PTI-backed Muhammad Ruman Ahmad, who received 129,716 votes. The margin of victory was 11,964, while 24,547 ballot papers were rejected.
In total, approximately two million ballot papers were excluded from the count across the 265 National Assembly constituencies.
Four constituencies reported over 15,000 excluded ballots each, while 21 constituencies had between 10,000 to 15,000 excluded ballots. A significant number of constituencies (137) reported excluded votes ranging from 5,000 to 10,000.
Moreover, 67 constituencies recorded fewer than 5,000 but more than 1,000 excluded ballots, with only six constituencies reporting fewer than 1,000 excluded ballots each.