Claim: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidate, Meher Bano Qureshi emerged victorious from NA-151 Multan IV, defeating Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Ali Musa Gillani after a recount of votes.
Fact: As per Form 49 dated 10 February 2024, Ali Musa Gillani was declared the winner. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a notification of his victory on 16 February.
On 11 February 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user Areeba Kanwal (@AnjumZiyan68828) claimed (archive) that PTI-backed independent candidate Meher Bano Qureshi has bagged victory from NA-151 Multan IV after the recount of votes.
Elections 2024
According to the results issued by the ECP, independent candidates backed by the PTI are leading by winning the most seats in the National Assembly. PTI won 93 of the 264 seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) got 75 seats, PPP was able to secure 54 seats, while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagged 17 seats. However, no political party has been able to secure a simple majority to form the government.
Protests have erupted across the country following allegations of widespread rigging during the general election, which were levelled by PTI and other nationalist groups. With no clear winner declared, the country is in turmoil as multiple parties have laid claim to the government.
NA-151
In NA-151 Multan IV, Ali Musa Gillani secured victory with 79,080 votes while Meher Bano Qureshi bagged 71,649 votes as per Form 47 issued by the ECP. Form 49 also shows Ali Musa Gillani as the winner of NA 151.
However, Qureshi claimed that she had won the seat as per the results of Form 45.
Form 47 details the results of a constituency, including the number of votes cast and cancelled. Form 49, also referred to as the Final and Official Result Form, is published in the Gazette of Pakistan. It features the names of candidates, the political parties they are affiliated with and the total number of votes obtained in a constituency.
Meher Bano Qureshi
In the early hours of 9 February, Qureshi shared a screenshot of Geo News’ election transmission claiming that she was leading by 16,670 votes as per Form 45 received from her polling agents but the results of other polling stations were being withheld. Reminding the ECP that they were supposed to release the results by 2 am, she urged them to announce the results immediately.
In another video posted a few hours later, she claimed that she is leading by 16,000 votes, according to Form 45 received from 60% of polling stations.
Later in the day, Qureshi expressed her frustration at being denied access to the Returning Officer’s (RO) office all night and criticised the “official” result announced in the morning. It contradicted all Form 45 results and the lead she had maintained throughout the night, she added.
Consequently, on 10 February, Qureshi shared a video on X, in which she is at the RO’s office to request a recount in NA 151, but does not find anyone available to receive the request.
On 11 February, the politician again claimed that she “won the election by defeating Musa Geelani by a margin of 5995 votes” in NA 151, adding that the number of rejected votes is 4,151 according to Form 45, and as per Form 47 issued by the ECP, it appears to be 16,555.
Endorsing her claim, the PTI tweeted from their official X account that Qureshi had secured victory with 83,524 votes in NA 151 according to Form 45 with a lead of about 5,000 from Ali Musa Gillani. The tweet also shared a link to a Google Drive with the Form 45 as proof of her victory.
Addressing reporters on 15 February, the PTI-backed candidate said she had brought complete Form 45s to the ECP to contest what she terms as “hijacking” of the election process. She argued that Form 45, which is the final result of a polling station, should align with Form 47, which is the consolidation of Form 45s, and highlighted discrepancies between the two forms, particularly in the number of rejected votes. Citing the Elections Act 2017, Qureshi asserted that rejected votes can be decreased but not increased.
Fact or Fiction?
According to the tweet,
“BREAKING NEWS
During the recounting of votes in NA151 Meher Bano Qureshi come out as victorious.
#ElectionResults #ImranKhanPTI #GeneralElectionN0W #Pakistan”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false. As per Form 49 shared (archive) by GilaniHouseMediaCell (@gillanihouse_MC), Ali Musa Gillani has been declared the winner from NA 151 Multan-IV. The ECP also issued a notification of his victory on 16 February.
Qureshi told Soch Fact Check, “The facts are that no there has been no recount and, therefore, no official notification has been issued changing the result but our claim is that Form 47 and, therefore, Form 48 and 49 have been issued in violation of the Elections Act, 2017, because you cannot consolidate the election result or the poll count without the presence of the candidates there. I tried to go to the RO’s office but I was not given access on the night of the election. Furthermore, the following day I did go to see the RO seeking a recount once the Form 47 was issued as it was in complete conflict with the accumulated account of the Form 45’s that I have received. I have also made those a public document so anybody can see them, they have been uploaded onto a Google Drive.”
“You can see that Form 45 and Form 47 are in direct conflict with each other, the numbers don’t match. Therefore, we sought a recount but the RO officer did not meet me nor was anybody in the office available to receive my application. I have sent that application to the DRO [District Returning Officer], the RO and the ECP via registered post. I have yet to receive a reply. I was told the RO was out of the city,” she added.
Lamenting that her request for a recount was not acknowledged, Qureshi added that, “However, in complete violation again, without acknowledging my request for a recount, they issued the Form 49 which is the final result which has no legal standing in my opinion and in my lawyer’s opinion because they have not given me the relief that they are required to give to me if the winning margin is below 8,000 or 5 % of the total votes cast which it is.”
About the number of rejected votes, she said that it “is a ground for a recount because the rejected votes are more than double of the winning margin. So we have now filed an appeal in the ECP, pending further procedure from the ECP. Therefore, the seat is far more done and dusted, it is contended.”
Qureshi said that she has not received a reply as of 19 February, regarding the recount application. “I have not received acknowledgement of it either let alone if they are even considering it that it’s my due right and it should be granted to me under the provisions of the Election Rules and Elections Act 2017. Besides that, I have filed an appeal in the ECP. So far I have not heard back that it is being taken up this week,” she shared.
Virality:
The claim was also posted here (archive) on Facebook by a magazine Runway Pakistan.
Conclusion: Meher Bano Qureshi did not emerge victorious from NA-151 Multan IV. According to Form 49, dated 10 February 2024, Ali Musa Gillani was officially declared the winner, and the ECP issued a notification of his victory on 16 February as well.
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