Who will the minorities vote for?

Amidst the general elections hype, an important demographic of the Pakistan voters cannot be overlooked: the minorities.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the minority vote could decisively sway the direction of the polls, it would be in eight out of 13 districts in Sindh.  In total, all minorities constitute 2.78 million registered voters.

In Karachi, 81,589 of the registered voters are non-Muslim, which is eight percent of the total.

Hindus constitute the highest number of minorities’ votes in the country with 1.4 million registered voters, followed by 1.24 million Christians. There are some 115,966 registered Ahmadi voters who mostly reside in Lahore and Chiniot districts of Punjab.

Overall, in Chiniot and Lahore districts, there are 35,335 and 247,827 non-Muslim voters, respectively, constituting 6 per cent of the total registered voters.

Besides Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis, a number of Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish voters will also be exercising their right to vote in the May 11 elections. Majority of Ahmadis have always boycotted elections. They refuse to be declared non-Muslims, and taking part in the polls would be an acceptance of this declaration.

According to the Final Electoral Rolls of the Election Commission of Pakistan, there are 5,934 Sikh, 3,650 Parsi, 1,452 Buddhist and 809 Jewish voters registered in Pakistan who will be exercising their right to vote in the upcoming elections. Minorities’ separate electorates were abandoned in the 2002 general elections, allowing them to contest on general seats, with 10 seats reserved for minorities in the National Assembly.

Yet, no mainstream party awards tickets to minorities.

The Christian minority group is actively sought after. Unlike the Sikhs and Hindus, who have a thin presence in Punjab, the Christians are the focal minority group that election hopefuls seek out to help sweep them into parliament – since the 2002 general elections, their votes have played a vital role.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s former MPA Pervez Rafique told a local newspaper that this time around Christians were determined to cast their vote in favour of the PPP.

According to him, previous polls showed that the community casts votes keeping in view the national circumstances and the political parties’ policies towards minorities. In 2002, the Christians in Lahore supported Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran head Dr Tahirul Qadri, contesting on behalf of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek party. Then, in 2008, the Christian vote bank was split between the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and both parties benefited from the group.

However, a former PML-N MPA, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested a different outcome. He said that although PPP had  the Christian support now, the PML-N knew how to purchase votes, through jobs and other lucrative giveaways. Moreover, many Christian colonies exist in the middle of posh areas, which made managing, and ultimately pocketing, their votes much easier.