Pakistan Elections 2024 to be declared null and void? All eyes on Supreme Court for key verdict

Pakistan Election Results 2024: Shehbaz Sharif's designation as future prime minister of Pakistan hangs in balance after an attempt to declare the results of the February 8 electionsnull and void.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday (Feb 19) is scheduled to hear a petition seeking to declare the recently held general elections as null and void due to reports ofpoll rigging and deliberate delay in announcing the results by Pakistan's election commission. The hearing becomes all the more important as even the Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) has alleged rigging in the polls. The PPP is anally of Shehbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) in the evolving scheme of things for an alliance that is purported to assume power in Islamabad.

The petition would be heard by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The petition seeks to declare the results of the February 8 polls null and void and get elections re-conducted within 30 days under the supervision and oversight of the judiciary, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Who is the petitioner?

According to the report, the petitioner is a citizen named Ali Khan and hehas also made the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the federal governmentrespondents in the case.

"The petitioner seeks the apex court to order fresh elections within 30 days. The plea seeks general elections under the supervision and oversight of the judiciary to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability," said the report.

Additionally, the petition also seeks a stay order on the formation of the new government till the case is resolved.

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The Feb 8 general elections in Pakistan gave the majority tonone of the parties.

Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf-backed independent candidates secured 92 seats, while Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured 75 and 54 seats, respectively.

The PML-N and the PPP are trying to form a government with former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif emerging as the next prime minister.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has propped up Umar Ayub Khan, the party secretary general and the grandson of former military dictator Ayub Khan, as the prime ministerial candidate.

The petition seeking annulment of the polls came as several political parties, including the PTI, the PPP, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)levelled allegations of rigging in the general elections.

The final results of the polls were announced after an extraordinary delay, raising doubts over the elections' transparency.

Pakistan has also seen protests across the country by several parties who alleged poll rigging. Khan's PTI has called for nationwide peaceful protests over the weekend.

(With inputs from the agencies)