Pending disputes

FOR those who follow the trajectory of Pakistani politics closely, it had seemed a given that the election tribunals formed to adjudicate challenged results from the last general election would prove ineffective, and that the ECP’s announced results would, no matter how controversial, be accepted as default. In past elections, too, it had been observed that election tribunals struggled to deliver justice, and if, by some feat, they were able to do so, so much time had elapsed by then that their intervention seemed meaningless. Still, given the seriousness of the controversies surrounding the 2024 general election and what seemed like an extraordinarily high number of doubtful results, there was a reasonable expectation that there would be more than usual pressure on the tribunals to work expediently to restore the legitimacy of the polls. And yet, more than two years after the last ballots were counted, and 18 months since the legally mandated deadline to decide election disputes expired, dozens of lawmakers continue to serve in office on the basis of poll results whose legitimacy has never been settled. A report from the Free and Fair Election Network notes that a third of the challenges filed have yet to be settled.

Not only that, the tribunals have also been operating with far less transparency than would be expected given the sensitivity of their task. “Petition memos, hearing details, and judgements remain largely accessible in tribunals comprising sitting judges of the Sindh, Balochistan, and Peshawar High Courts,” Fafen notes in its report, “By contrast, Punjab tribunals have provided access only to case-status information, withholding petition memos, judgements, and related documents.” It bears highlighting here that tribunal judgements are available for only 26pc of the cases disposed of so far. Fafen also points out that more than half the petitions have been dismissed on procedural grounds “rather than on the merits of the case”. A total of 123 tribunal decisions have been challenged before the Supreme Court, of which 105 remain pending. It is, therefore, no wonder that the legitimacy of the last election remains in such serious doubt. All one can hope for now is that the remaining petitions are decided quickly. Unless these pending matters are settled expeditiously and transparently, the doubts surrounding the 2024 polls will leave yet another unhealed wound in our democratic record.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026

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