During the General Elections 2024, the Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from NA-68 Mandi Bahauddin-I was elected with 166,229 votes, which made up 54 percent of the 307,057 ballots cast, but accounted for only 27 percent of the 613,167 registered voters in the constituency.
According to the Final Consolidated Result (Form-49) of the constituency, the voter turnout stood at 50 percent. NA-68 was among 70 out of 266 National Assembly constituencies where the winner could secure 50 percent or more of the polled votes. Still, a sizeable chunk of the voters, 131,642 or 43 percent, did not vote for the winner. Moreover, the share of the winner among the total registered voters also remained only 27 percent.
The runner-up candidate secured 23 percent of the ballots cast; the third-placed candidate received seven percent, while the remaining candidates collectively secured 13 percent of the votes. As many as 9,186, or three percent, of the total ballots were declared invalid, meaning they did not go to any candidate.
This story is part of FAFEN’s constituency-wise analysis on the unrepresentativeness of Pakistan’s electoral outcomes. The series highlights how the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system can skew representation in multi-candidate electoral contests of Pakistan, where three or more contenders are common. In such contests, a majority of voters may feel unrepresented and raise questions about the legitimacy, which may potentially contribute to political instability.
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Explore more stories from the series here.
