ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated PTI leader Dr Yasmin Rashid on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court (SC), seeking to overturn the election victory of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif from Lahore’s NA-130 constituency in the 2024 general elections.

The petitioner challenged the Dec 30, 2025 rejection of her election dispute by the election tribunal, where she had earlier levelled allegations of large-scale electoral fraud, manipulation of results and the illegal replacement of the returning officer (RO).

The appeal has been filed under Section 155 of the Election Act, 2017, naming Nawaz Sharif as the principal respondent, along with 20 others, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and various ROs.

According to the petition, polling on election day proceeded smoothly at all polling stations in the presence of her polling agents. Ballots were duly counted, Form-45 was prepared, and copies were handed over to her polling agents at most polling stations.

Incarcerated PTI leader moves SC; alleges massive rigging, illegal change of RO in NA-130 election

The appellant contended that although she had been confined in jail since May 2023 on what she described as “sham charges”, her election agent was present at the office of the respondent RO to participate in the consolidation process of results, as envisaged under Rule 85 of the Election Rules, 2017.

The petition stated results received on the basis of Form-45 from 334 out of 376 polling stations showed that 207,517 votes were cast in the constituency. Of these, the appellant received 99,428 votes, while the alleged returned candidate, Nawaz Sharif, secured 78,533 votes, indicating that the appellant had won the election by a margin of 20,895 votes in all the polling stations except the remaining 32. It was further stated that 3,123 votes were declared invalid, as per Form-45.

However, during the provisional consolidation process, the petition alleged that some unknown persons forcibly entered the RO’s premises and later disappeared.

Subsequently, it was alleged, a new RO (respondent No. 19) was illegally appointed by the ECP (respondent No. 21) without following due process. Under the instructions of the new RO, local police allegedly restrained the appellant’s election agent from participating in the consolidation proceedings and forcibly removed him from the office around 12:30am on Feb 9, 2024. This situation, the petition claimed, continued until the completion of the consolidation process.

The change of the RO during the consolidation and preparation of the provisional result, the petition maintained, was without lawful authority and amounted to unlawful interference in the election outcome for NA-130. It alleged that this was carried out in connivance with other respondents with mala fide intent to benefit Nawaz Sharif.

The petition alleged that based on Form-45 provided to the appellant’s polling agents and information circulating in electronic and social media, the appellant had won all polling stations in the constituency by a substantial margin. It claimed that the newly appointed RO prepared a false, manipulated and fabricated provisional result on Form-47 with mala fide intent and active connivance of the returned candidate to unlawfully secure his success by abusing authority.

Terming the election tribunal’s dismissal of her petition as contrary to law and facts, the appellant pleaded that the decision was not sustainable in the eyes of law.

She alleged that Nawaz Sharif in collusion with the new RO and election staff, manoeuvred his success through illegal and corrupt practices by fabricating and manipulating vote counts in the provisional as well as consolidated results, namely from Form-47 to Form-49.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2026