<p>Islamabad: The number of rejected ballots was greater than the margin of victory in at least 24 National Assembly constituencies, according to an interesting statistical nugget from Pakistan's recent general elections.</p>.<p>The difference potentially opens doors for legal battles as several losing candidates have flooded the courts with petitions to review the results.</p>.<p>According to a report in the <em>Dawn</em> newspaper, 22 constituencies with a greater number of rejected votes than the margin of victory fell in Punjab, with one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh province.</p>.<p>The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won the electoral race in 13 of these constituencies, five were claimed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), four by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents and two by other independents.</p>.Pak parties intensify efforts to form coalition government after split verdict.<p>Going by their numerical strength, both the PML-N and the PPP are in a position to form a coalition government in the Centre. However, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif announced that all parties except PTI should join hands in the upcoming coalition set-up.</p>.<p>According to the results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) till Sunday, of the total 265 National Assembly seats, PTI-backed Independents bagged 93 seats, followed by PML-N at 73, PPP at 54, MQM at 17 and others at 19.</p>.<p>The highest number of rejected votes was in the NA-59 (Talagang-cum-Chakwal) area of Punjab where Sardar Ghulam Abbas of PML-N secured 141,680 votes against his closest rival PTI-backed Muhammad Ruman Ahmad, who got 129,716 votes.</p>.<p>The margin of victory was 11,964 while the number of ballot papers rejected was 24,547.</p>.What's next in Pakistan election deadlock.<p>It was followed by NA-213 Umerkot (17,571 ballots). The lowest number of ballots excluded are reported from NA-236 Karachi East-II (51 ballots).</p>.<p>In total, around two million ballot papers have been excluded from the count from the 265 National Assembly constituencies.</p>.<p>As many as four constituencies have more than 15,000 excluded ballots each. Another 21 constituencies have excluded 10,000 to 15,000 ballots. A large number of constituencies (137) reported excluded votes in the range of 5,000 to 10,000.</p>.<p>A total of 67 constituencies have reported fewer than 5,000 but greater than 1,000 excluded ballots. Only six constituencies have reported fewer than 1,000 excluded ballots each.</p>
<p>Islamabad: The number of rejected ballots was greater than the margin of victory in at least 24 National Assembly constituencies, according to an interesting statistical nugget from Pakistan's recent general elections.</p>.<p>The difference potentially opens doors for legal battles as several losing candidates have flooded the courts with petitions to review the results.</p>.<p>According to a report in the <em>Dawn</em> newspaper, 22 constituencies with a greater number of rejected votes than the margin of victory fell in Punjab, with one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh province.</p>.<p>The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won the electoral race in 13 of these constituencies, five were claimed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), four by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independents and two by other independents.</p>.Pak parties intensify efforts to form coalition government after split verdict.<p>Going by their numerical strength, both the PML-N and the PPP are in a position to form a coalition government in the Centre. However, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif announced that all parties except PTI should join hands in the upcoming coalition set-up.</p>.<p>According to the results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) till Sunday, of the total 265 National Assembly seats, PTI-backed Independents bagged 93 seats, followed by PML-N at 73, PPP at 54, MQM at 17 and others at 19.</p>.<p>The highest number of rejected votes was in the NA-59 (Talagang-cum-Chakwal) area of Punjab where Sardar Ghulam Abbas of PML-N secured 141,680 votes against his closest rival PTI-backed Muhammad Ruman Ahmad, who got 129,716 votes.</p>.<p>The margin of victory was 11,964 while the number of ballot papers rejected was 24,547.</p>.What's next in Pakistan election deadlock.<p>It was followed by NA-213 Umerkot (17,571 ballots). The lowest number of ballots excluded are reported from NA-236 Karachi East-II (51 ballots).</p>.<p>In total, around two million ballot papers have been excluded from the count from the 265 National Assembly constituencies.</p>.<p>As many as four constituencies have more than 15,000 excluded ballots each. Another 21 constituencies have excluded 10,000 to 15,000 ballots. A large number of constituencies (137) reported excluded votes in the range of 5,000 to 10,000.</p>.<p>A total of 67 constituencies have reported fewer than 5,000 but greater than 1,000 excluded ballots. Only six constituencies have reported fewer than 1,000 excluded ballots each.</p>