ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate from NA-222, Mahesh Kumar Malani on Friday became the first non-Muslim to win a general seat in the National Assembly since the amendment in Legal Framework Order was passed in 2002.
It had been reported that Malani who contested from the NA-222 Tharparkar III constituency along with 14 other candidates from the Grand Democratic Alliance, Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan and several others, won the seat.
In 2013, Malani was also the first non-Muslim lawmaker to win a general seat in the Sindh Assembly, PS-61 (Tharparkar-III).
He has served as the chairperson of the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on Food and has remained a member of the Standing Committee on Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs, Standing Committee on Energy and Standing Committee on Transport and Mass Transit during the last government’s tenure.
The Legal Framework Order was passed in 2002 by General (r) Pervez Musharraf where non-Muslims were declared eligible to vote and contest on general seats.
