India gave a strong response to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s speech in the United Nations General Assembly. On behalf of India, the UN First Secretary Patel Gehlot had besieged Pakistan on the issues of terrorism, democracy and minorities. Meanwhile, Gehlot called the Shehbaz Sharif government a ‘Form 47 government’. The term has been used in reference to Pakistan’s 2024 election process and related controversies. Let’s find out what this means….
#IndiaAtUN | Exercising India’s right of reply to Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s speech, Patel Gehlot, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, says, “This afternoon, the General Assembly heard some strange comments by the representative of Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/63pk0y4Dcz
— DD News (@DDNewslive) September 26, 2026
What is Form 47?
In Pakistani elections, Form 47 is an official document related to election results. It is prepared by the Returning Officer (RO). In this, the preliminary i.e. provisional result is prepared by adding up the votes received from all the polling stations in a constituency. It contains information about the votes received by the candidates and the votes rejected. Before preparing Form 47, vote information is obtained from polling stations through Form 45 and Form 46.
Postal ballot is not included in Form 47. After this, Form 48 is used to forward the election results and then Form 49 is used for the final official result. It means that Form 47 itself is not a disputed or illegal document. This is a part of Pakistan’s electoral process.
Why was Shahbaz government called Form 47 government?
After the 2024 Pakistan elections, there was a huge controversy over Form 47. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) alleged that its candidates were shown different results in Form 47 as compared to the votes received in Form 45 and its order was changed. For this reason, PTI leaders started calling Shehbaz Sharif’s government as Form 47 government. India used the same political slogan in its response. Pankhudi Gehlot said that people in Pakistan themselves call Shahbaz government as Form 47 government. This statement by India is in the context of the controversy over Pakistan’s 2024 elections.
In the general election of Pakistan on February 8, 2024, more than 12.86 crore voters were registered and about 6.13 crore votes were cast, i.e. the total voting percentage was 47.65%. According to the 2024 report of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), more than 90 thousand polling stations were constructed and more than 10 lakh election workers were deployed across the country.
What else did India say in the UN?
Targeting Shahbaz Sharif’s speech, India raised the issue of Pakistan’s record of terrorism. Patel Gehlot referred to Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. He said bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, near Pakistan’s main military academy.
India also questioned the role of Pakistan’s army. Gehlot said that the real power in Pakistan is in the hands of the army and called Shahbaz Sharif a puppet of the army. He also said that Pakistan talks of security during the day, but acts of terrorism at night. India also raised the issue of the status of religious minorities and the blasphemy law in Pakistan. Gehlot said the law has provisions up to death penalty and is used to intimidate and harass minorities.
India’s response on Kashmir too
India clearly stated that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and indivisible part of India. Gehlot also raised the issue of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and referred to allegations of violence, killings and fundamental rights in Rawalkot. India also defended Operation Sindoor and said that India will exercise its right to defend itself against terrorism. Gehlot warned that ongoing terrorism from Pakistan would have dire consequences.
