LAHORE: An election tribunal has issued a detailed judgement on dismissal of a petition filed by PTI-backed independent candidate Ruba Umar Dar challenging the victory of the PML-N’s Faisal Akram from PP-46, Sialkot, ruling that the petition failed to meet the mandatory legal requirements for verification under election law.

The one-member tribunal, comprising retired Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa, dismissed the election petition without going into the merits of the tampering allegations, after respondent Akram — the returned candidate — raised a preliminary objection questioning the petition’s maintainability.

Ms Dar had assailed the Feb 8, 2024 election result, alleging that the returning officer (RO) colluded to prepare Form-45 in disregard of the results recorded by her polling agents. She alleged that the subsequent Forms 46 to 49 submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were based on this tampering. She asked the tribunal to set aside Akram’s election and declare her as the returned candidate, or cancel the results from 89 polling stations with a call for fresh polling in the constituency.

However, the tribunal found that the petition’s verification and supporting affidavits, filed under Section 144 of the Elections Act, 2017 and Order VI, Rule 15 of the Code of Civil Procedure, suffered from multiple defects. It rejected arguments that these were mere technicalities, holding that Sections 142, 143 and 144 of the Act are mandatory provisions and that the doctrine of “substantial compliance” could not be invoked to cure such lapses in an election petition. It noted that the law’s penal framework under Section 145(1) is designed to deter frivolous and unverified allegations.

Concluding that the petitioner failed to comply with Section 144(2)(a)(c) and 144(4) of the Act, the tribunal dismissed the petition.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026