PTI's Misbah retains victory as tribunal rejects Rana Mashhood's petition

The Election Tribunal has dismissed the electoral petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, thereby upholding the victory notification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Misbah Wajid from constituency PP-172, Lahore, on Wednesday.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, the verdict on Rana Mashhood's petition was announced by an election tribunal headed by Justice Sultan Tanvir Ahmad.

The Election Tribunal rejected the request of the losing candidate from PML-N to invalidate PTI's female candidate Misbah Wajid's election result.

Rana Mashhood had filed a petition against Misbah Wajid, contesting the validity of her victory and requesting that the notification of her success be declared null and void. However, his appeal failed to gain any traction at the tribunal.

During the hearing, Misbah Wajid’s legal counsel argued that Rana Mashhood's petition was not maintainable and should be dismissed. The tribunal accepted this argument and dismissed the petition accordingly.

Earlier, in March 2024, Rana Mashhood had held a press conference announcing his intent to challenge the election results of PP-172. He alleged that the results were rigged in favour of the PTI-backed candidate, claiming that Mian Azhar, with the support of the returning officer (RO), manipulated Form-47 to falsely show him as the losing candidate by a margin of 2,730 votes.

Despite these accusations, the Election Tribunal found no merit in his claims, bringing a legal end to his efforts to contest the result.