Islamabad:
Between February 1 and April 20, 2025, the electoral courts ruled on 24 petitions linked to the general elections from last year, bringing the total number of cases decided at 136 – approximately 37% of all the petitions currently heard in the four provinces.
According to the free and fair electoral network (Fafen), which systematically followed 372 petitions filed with 23 electoral courts after the ballot boxes, decisions were made with 26% of the challenges of the National Assembly districts and 42% of these provincial assemblies.
Of the 24 petitions decided, 21 came from Punjab, two from Balutchistan and one from Sindh.
In Punjab, two courts of Lahore decided eight cases, one in Rawalpindi decided seven, and one in Bahawalpur decided six.
The two courts of Quetta each eliminated one case, while a Karachi court disposed in one case.
Meanwhile, no petition for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was decided during this period.
Despite an increase in the number of petitions decided in Punjab compared to previous months, the overall pace of decisions has slowed down.
The network observed that the pace of slower decisions can be attributed to four largely dysfunctional courts during the reference period, including two in KP, one in Punjab and the only court in the territory of the capital of Islamabad.
To date, the three courts of Balutchistan have collectively decided 43 (83%) of the 51 petitions deposited for the national and provincial districts of the province.
The eight courts of Punjab decided 66 (34%) of the 192 petitions. The five courts of the Sindh decided by 18 (22%) of 83 petitions. The six courts of KP decided nine (21%) of the 42 petitions.
Out of 124 petitions contesting the results of the year’s constituencies, 33 (26%) have been decided so far.
Among these, 19 were Punjab, eight from Balutchistan, four from Sindh, and two from KP.
Out of 248 petitions contesting the results of the districts of the Provincial Assembly, 103 (42%) were decided. These include 47 from Punjab, 35 from Balutchistan, 14 from Sindh and seven from KP.
Of the 136 petitions decided so far, 133 have been rejected and three have been accepted. Among the 133 layoffs, 52 were rejected for reasons of non-entretian, including 10 linked to the constituencies of the NA and 42 to the constituencies of the provincial assemblies.
21 others were rejected because the allegations could not be proven during the trial.
These 21 included two for NA and 19 for provincial assemblies. Nine petitions have been removed, including four for the NA and five for provincial assemblies.
