Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has alleged widespread rigging in election results as counting of votes for the National Assembly and provincial elections began on Thursday evening.
PTI, which is led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, claimed that the authorities were involved in "manipulation of results" which it described as "utter disgrace" and a "brazen theft of the nation's mandate".
"The people of Pakistan vehemently reject the rigged results. The world is watching," PTI said.
"Form 45s are the primary source of election results at the lowest level. The votes for each candidate are tabulated at each polling station on the Form 45. Copies of these forms have been collected by PTI candidates' polling agents, which show them winning by a large majority.
However, Returning Officers are now manipulating the results using Form 47, which is a summary of all the Forms 45 from each polling station," the party said. It further alleged that polling agents were being abducted and forced to sign on "fake" Form 45s.
"As per Election Act, it is mandatory to issue results (Form 47) by 2:00 am. The presence of candidates and their polling agents is also mandatory during counting & compilation of the process of Form 47. However, both these requirements were not fulfilled," PTI highlighted.
PTI warned that "manipulation of the mandate" would lead to more chaos and instability in Pakistan.
PML-N Takes Lead
According to results published by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday, candidates from the outgoing ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 11 seats.
Independents backed by Imran Khan emerged victorious on seven seats, while those from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won on five seats.
Voting also took place for provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
However, trends shared by Khan on his X account on Thursday evening showed independents winning 125 seats, as compared to 44 seats projected to be secured by PML (N).
PTI Chairman Barrister Gouhar Khan released a video expressing confidence that independents backed by PTI would form governments in the two provinces and at the federal level.
Around 128 million Pakistani voters cast their ballot in the elections to decide the fate of 266 NA seats in the 336-member house.