Reality check: Can minorities contest elections in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

The Citizenship Amendment Act is facing protests across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are repeatedly arguing in favour of this Act.

On Saturday, Home Minister Amit Shah said during a rally in Hubli, Karnataka, “In Afghanistan, the effigy of Buddha was fired from a cannon. He (Hindu-Sikh minority) was not given the right to contest elections there (Afghanistan-Pakistan), health facilities were not given, education was not arranged for him. All the refugees who were Hindus, Sikhs, Jain Buddhist Christians came to seek refuge inside India.

In fact, in advocating for the Citizenship Amendment Act, Amit Shah was explaining how Sikhs, Hindu refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are being persecuted in their country and are not being given fundamental rights.

This new law talks about giving citizenship to non-Muslim communities from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. People are opposing this provision of the Act.

But do minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh actually have no right to contest or vote? Tried to understand the electoral rights of minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. At the same time, it was investigated that what rights have been given to them in the electoral process at the present time.

According to Article 51 (2A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, 10 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan, are reserved for minorities. In addition, the reservation has been given for 23 seats in the assembly of four provinces.

There are a total of 342 seats in Pakistan and out of which 272 seats are directly elected by the public and send their representatives. 10 seats are reserved for minorities and 60 seats are reserved for women.

There are two ways for minorities to reach Parliament:

These reserved 10 seats are divided by political parties on the basis of how many seats they have won out of 272. The party itself decides the minority candidates on these seats and sends them to the Parliament.

The another option is that any minority can contest on any seat. In such a situation, his victory will be based on the votes received directly from the public.

Any minority is free to vote for any candidate contesting from their constituency. That is, the right to vote is equal for all.

After independence, the constitution of Pakistan was made in 1956, then it was repealed and the second constitution came in 1958 and it was also repealed and the third constitution was made in 1973 which is still valid. This constitution talks about giving equal rights to minorities in Pakistan. That is, not only are seats reserved for minorities in Pakistan, they can also contest elections from other seats.

In the 2018 elections Mahesh Malani, Hariram Kishwari Lal and Gyan Chand Asrani contested from parliamentary and assembly unreserved seats from Sindh province and reached Parliament.

What are the electoral rights of Hindu-Sikhs in Afghanistan

Now talk about Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been the victim of civil war and Taliban violence since 1988. The location of the extremist organization al-Qaeda also remained in Afghanistan. In 2002, an interim government was formed and Hamid Karzai became the President. After this, in the elections of 2005, the representatives of the lower house and the upper house of the country reached and elected the parliament of Afghanistan.

The exact official data of what the population of Afghanistan does not exist because the census could not be done hereafter the 70s. But according to the World Bank, the population here is 3.7 crore.

At the same time, according to the report of the US Department of Justice, in which the number of Hindu-Sikh minorities here is just between 1000 and 1500.

There are 249 seats in the lower house of Afghanistan, ie, where the people directly elect representatives. Minorities have the freedom to contest elections here. But according to the rules, at least 5000 people had to show their support in the name of nomination in the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

These rules were the same for everyone but it made it difficult for the minority community to send their representative to the Parliament. Ashraf Ghani came to power in 2014 and has reserved a seat in the lower house, looking at the equation of Hindu-Sikh minorities.

At this time Narinder Pal Singh MP is on this seat. In addition, a seat in the Upper House of Afghanistan is reserved for religious minorities. Right now, Anarkali Kaur Honyar is an MP in this House. These names are decided by the minority community, which are sent directly to Parliament by the President.

Apart from this, any minority can vote for the candidate of his / her constituency. Also, minorities can contest elections from any seat, provided they gather the support of five thousand people for themselves.

According to Afghanistan MP Narinder Singh Khalsa, how the minority Sikh-Hindus of Afghanistan has electoral rights. He said, “Minorities have the freedom to contest elections and also have the freedom to vote.

There was never a ban, but in the last thirty years, due to the violence of the Taliban, there was a rapid migration and our numbers kept decreasing. Four years ago we got the reserved seat because we could not muster the support of five thousand. And the matter was heard. We have problems with the Taliban, not the government. Even today, no Hindu or Sikh can vote for me or any of his favourite candidates, there is no restriction on the voters. If we get the support, then we can also contest elections in more than one seat.

Since 2005, a stable government is being formed in the country. But minorities were never denied the right to vote or contest elections. In the last three decades, not only Hindu-Sikhs but also those who believe in other religious beliefs have escaped. Civil war has been the reason for this.

In the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, seats have not been reserved for any minority community, but only 50 seats have been reserved for women.

There are 350 seats in Bangladesh Parliament out of which 50 seats are reserved for women. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, out of 79 minority candidates, 18 candidates reached Parliament.

Earlier, there was a similar number of minority MPs in the 10th Parliament of Bangladesh. According to the local newspaper Dhaka Tribune, 14 MPs in the 9th Parliament of Bangladesh was from the minority community, while eight MPs in the Eighth Parliament were in the minority. That is, minorities have been given equal electoral rights in Bangladesh politics.

Originally published at https://www.mubahisa.in.