Daily Times

LAHORE: Members of civil society and representatives of religious minorities have expressed the hope that the vote of minorities will make a significant influence in the general elections, to be held on July 25, 2018, as per the schedule.

Recent reports showed that the number of voters of the religious minorities has climbed to 3.63 million for 2018 from 2.77 million registered in the electoral rolls for the 2013 elections. These official figures showed an increase of 0.860 million or 30 per cent in five years.

However, just two districts in Punjab and 13 districts in Sindh had considerable number of voters from religious minorities. The districts Umerkot and Tharparker have 49% and 46% minority voters respectively. Mirpur Khas, Tandu Adam Khan and Tando Allahyar have over 25% of non-Muslim population.

Tando Mohammad Khan, Matiari, Karachi’s South district, Ghotki and Hyderabad, Chiniot, Lahore, Jamshoro and Kashmore have 25% to 5% non-Muslim population. This means that other than addressing the issues and rights of the minorities during the election campaigns in these districts, the political parties should also give chance to political leaders from the minorities to stand in the 2018 election and resolve their legislative matters directly.

Javaid William, president of the FACES Pakistan, a non-profit organisation, said that rather than just focusing on manifestos and agendas of the political parties, the voters should use their right to vote fairly. He suggested that the voters in constituencies with higher number of non-Muslims should use this opportunity to choose right candidate who can represent them and address their issues.

In 2002 elections, 82 national constituencies had more votes from the minorities than the votes required for victory. However, in the election of 2008, the religious minorities were not satisfied with the number of the registered voters announced. Therefore, the number of such national constituencies reduced to 59 in these elections.

In 2013, the number of the registered voters from the minorities increased but the number of such constituencies reduced further. Out of 2.9 million non-Muslim CNIC holders, 2.77 million registered their votes. As many as 21 national constituencies had more than 25,000 non-Muslim voters that, if had tapped appropriately, could have influenced the results of any constituency.

Everywhere in the world, political parties work to attract diverse voters, said Elaine Alam, secretary general of the organisation, even in areas where they have never had a significant focus. In Pakistan, she said that there has been a typical tendency to hold campaigns among the communities attracting votes through both fair and unfair means, as well as a set of promises.

However, “the communities which are largely marginalised, have less access to information and are less aware of their right to vote including making the right choices for their future in terms of who they choose,” she said. The minority voters should carefully disregard misleading campaigns for their rights and should proactively change the political landscape for themselves and for other marginalised sections of the society by voting for an appropriate political representative, she said.

Now in 2018, the religious minorities again have an opportunity to influence the results of the elections for their own benefit by correctly using their vote to grab seats for their candidate especially in those constituencies where the religious minorities were in concentration, she said.

Published in Daily Times, July 5^th 2018.