Form 45, Form 47, and the Politics of Selective Objections in Pakistan’s Elections

Introduction

Elections in Pakistan have repeatedly been marred by disputes over transparency, credibility, and allegations of rigging. Central to these disputes are two key documents: Form 45 and Form 47. While both are official election forms, their roles and significance are very different.

In the 2024 general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) raised significant objections over Form 47, alleging manipulation to undermine their candidates’ victories. However, in a striking display of hypocrisy, similar irregularities in Form 45 during the 2018 elections—when PTI came to power—benefited the party, particularly in Imran Khan’s NA-131 victory, which remains questionable. This article explains Form 45 and Form 47 with evidence and logic, highlights the importance of signatures on Form 45, and builds an argument that PTI, while now decrying Form 47 tampering, benefited from similar manipulations in 2018, casting doubt on Imran Khan’s NA-131 win.

What is Form 45?

• Form 45, officially known as the Result of the Count, is issued at each polling station after vote counting is completed.

• It contains the exact number of votes each candidate receives at that polling station.

• The form must be signed by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the polling agents of all contesting candidates.

• Copies are provided to candidates’ polling agents to ensure that no changes can be made later.

Why are Signatures on Form 45 Crucial?

• Signatures are the guarantee of transparency. Without them, the credibility of the form is questionable.

• According to reports from FAFEN (Free and Fair Election Network), in the 2018 general elections nearly 90% of Form 45 copies lacked signatures from polling agents. This created serious doubts about whether the results were tampered with.

• Thus, a signed Form 45 serves as the primary legal and factual proof of what actually happened inside a polling station.

What is Form 47?

• Form 47 is the Consolidated Result Form, prepared by the Returning Officer (RO) by compiling all Form 45 results from across the constituency.

• It represents the preliminary total outcome of a constituency.

• However, if Form 45 copies are missing or unsigned, the accuracy of Form 47 itself becomes questionable, since it is built upon potentially flawed data.

PTI’s Current Objection: 2022 By-Elections and Beyond

In 2022 and later, PTI raised strong objections that their victories were being stolen through manipulation of Form 47. They argued that:

• The figures in Form 47 did not match the original polling station results.

• Their polling agents were not provided Form 45 copies.

• Therefore, the official consolidated result was unreliable.

This line of argument is valid in principle: if Form 45 copies are missing, Form 47 cannot be trusted.

The Contradiction: PTI’s Own Role in 2018 (NA-131 Case Study)

However, what makes this situation politically ironic is that the same PTI raised no such objections in 2018 when they benefitted from the system.

• In the NA-131 Lahore constituency, Imran Khan won against Khawaja Saad Rafique of PML-N by a margin of only 756 votes.

• According to independent observers, many polling agents were not provided with signed Form 45 copies. FAFEN confirmed that a significant number of forms in 2018 lacked agent signatures.

• Without verified Form 45 copies, the credibility of the Form 47 consolidated result becomes highly doubtful.

• This raises the legitimate question: Was Imran Khan’s victory in NA-131 beyond doubt, or was it made possible by the same flaws PTI now condemns?

   

Table 1: Number and Percentage of Polling Stations with Polling Agent Signatures on Form-45 (General Election 2018)

Source: FAFEN Election Observation Report 2018

👉 This table clearly proves that only 5% of Form 45 nationwide were signed by polling agents—meaning 95% were missing this crucial verification.

2. Inside the NA-131 Case Study section

When explaining Imran Khan’s narrow victory over Saad Rafique, we can insert Table 2, which breaks down how signatures were distributed by party and region. This adds depth by showing how all parties suffered from unsigned forms, not just one side.

Table 2: Number of Polling Stations with Polling Agent Signatures on Form-45, by Region and Political Party (2018)

Source: FAFEN Election Observation Report 2018

👉 This table shows that even PTI itself had only 112 signed Form 45s nationwide out of thousands of polling stations. In Punjab, where NA-131 is located, PTI had just 39 signed forms—hardly enough to certify the result as fully transparent.

Opposition’s Protest Over Non-Issuance of Form 45

On the night of July 25, 2018, as vote counting concluded, major opposition parties—including the PML-N, PPP, and MMA—held urgent press conferences claiming that presiding officers refused to provide Form 45 copies to polling agents.

Khawaja Saad Rafique of PML-N directly alleged:

“Presiding officers refused to give Form 45 to our agents, which makes the transparency of the results highly questionable.”

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of PPP echoed the same concern, stating:

“Our polling agents were expelled from polling stations, and Form 45 was not provided. This is blatant rigging.”

Media Reports of Irregularities

Leading newspapers and TV channels—including Geo News, Dawn, and The Express Tribune—reported widespread delays in the announcement of results, coupled with complaints from opposition parties about the denial of Form 45. The sudden failure of the Results Transmission System (RTS) further fueled suspicions, as RTS was supposed to transmit Form 45 electronically to the Election Commission but unexpectedly “collapsed” on election night.

FAFEN’s Observation Report

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), which monitored the 2018 general elections, confirmed in its report that:

• Nearly 90% of Form 45 copies lacked polling agent signatures.

• This was a major flaw, since the law requires polling agent signatures to ensure credibility and prevent tampering.

FAFEN’s findings reinforced the opposition’s claims that the process lacked transparency.

Khawaja Saad Rafique’s Case (NA-131)

In constituency NA-131 (Lahore), Khawaja Saad Rafique filed a petition in the election tribunal, arguing that Imran Khan’s narrow victory was doubtful because the Form 45 record was neither transparent nor complete. He contended that without signed and properly issued Form 45 copies, the Form 47 consolidated result could not be trusted.

Ultimately, Imran Khan vacated the seat, and in the subsequent by-election PTI’s candidate lost to Rafique—a development that further intensified questions about the legitimacy of the 2018 result.

The Double Standard

Building on this argument, it’s hypocritical for PTI to now protest Form 47 manipulations when they benefited from Form 45 irregularities in 2018. According to a report by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), 95% of Form 45s in the 2018 elections lacked polling agents’ signatures, rendering them questionable and open to manipulation. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) dismissed these concerns, but FAFEN’s analysis highlighted that the absence of polling agents or their signatures compromised the results’ credibility. Opposition parties at the time cried foul, yet PTI assumed power. This hypocrisy is evident as PTI now criticizes the same electoral system that worked in their favor in 2018.

This situation reveals a consistent pattern in Pakistan’s electoral politics:

• In opposition → parties demand transparency, complain about missing Form 45s, and reject Form 47s.

• In power → the same parties downplay these concerns, even when others raise them.

PTI today insists that “Form 45 is the real proof and Form 47 is unreliable.” But in 2018, when evidence suggested that Form 45 copies were missing or unsigned in NA-131 and other constituencies, PTI claimed victory without hesitation.

The debate over Form 45 and Form 47 is not just about technicalities—it is about the credibility of elections in Pakistan. Form 45, with signatures from polling agents, is the only reliable proof of transparency at polling stations. Without it, Form 47 results are open to dispute.

PTI’s objections today echo what other parties argued in 2018. Yet, when Imran Khan himself won narrowly in NA-131 without properly signed Form 45s, PTI celebrated the victory. This contradiction highlights that electoral disputes in Pakistan are driven less by principle and more by political interest. Until all parties commit to a uniform standard of transparency, Pakistan’s democracy will remain hostage to selective outrage and contested mandates.