Fact-check: Has the Supreme Court of Pakistan restored rejected votes?
No such ruling has been issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the February 8 parliamentary election
Updated Wednesday Feb 28 2024
Facebook and WhatsApp users in Pakistan are sharing screenshots of an article published on the website of a television channel which allegedly reported that the Supreme Court declared valid all votes nullified on February 8.
The claim is misleading. The verdict the article is referring to was in reality announced by the Supreme Court of India.
The article was misrepresented online as its accompanying thumbnail carried a picture of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, instead of India’s.
Claim
On February 20, a mainstream television channel in Pakistan posted the following link on its Facebook page: “The Supreme Court has restored votes rejected by the returning officer.”
It further wrote in its caption that there was a “strong possibility” now of election results being changed.
Screenshots of the article were also widely shared in WhatsApp groups with the additional text: “The Supreme Court has restored votes rejected by returning officers in all constituencies. Rejected votes with minor errors can now go in favour of the candidates. There is a strong possibility that the results in most constituencies will be overturned.”
Fact
No such ruling has been issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan after the February 8 parliamentary election.
The online debate was misconstrued as firstly, the article published on the channel’s website had a vaguely worded headline: “Supreme Court restores votes rejected by the returning officer.” It did not specify if the apex court was in India or Pakistan.
Secondly, the picture used with the article was that of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, rather than of India’s.
However, the text in the article did in fact detail the judgment passed by the Supreme Court of India on February 20, where it overturned the results of a mayor poll in Chandigarh, and declared eight votes valid, which were “intentionally defaced” by the presiding officer.
The news was reported by several Indian journalists and media organisations on the day.
With additional reporting by Fayyaz Hussain.
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