Religious Minority Voices Demand Enhanced Representation In Elections
“In Pakistan, the time has come to allocate seats for minorities based on population and to give minority communities the right to elect their representatives directly through their votes,” says Shamoo Lal, a social & political worker of the Hindu community from South Punjab.
According to him, the Hindu Council Pakistan has been struggling for the last ten years to allocate seats for minorities based on population and to give double voting rights to the minority communities like those in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The double voting rights mean that they can vote for a candidate in general seats (usually such tickets are given by political parties), and also for one on reserved seats. Shamoo Lal states that more than 6% of Pakistan's total population consists of minorities, yet the reserved seats for these groups have not been increased in a long time, despite the growing minority population. Meanwhile, the Government of Pakistan has increased general seats due to overall population growth. Shamoo Lal views this as a double standard.
According to Article 33 of Pakistan's constitution, parliamentary parties can elect minority representatives based on personal preferences, leading to disappointment among unelected minority candidates, who accuse political parties of disregarding merit.