Pakistan Elections: PPP’s Mahesh Malani Becomes First Non-Muslim To Win General Seat

After finally being allowed to vote and contest on general seats in 2002, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)‘s Mahesh Malani has emerged as the first non-Muslim to win a general seat in the just-concluded Pakistani elections, Pakistan-based Dawn has reported.

Malani has won from the Tharparkar-II or NA-222 seat where he defeated candidates from the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan among others. He won the seat with a margin of almost 20,000 votes, defeating the GDA candidate Arbab Zakaullah.

He was also the first non-Muslim to enter the Sindh provincial assembly in the 2013 elections.

Earlier, Sindh’s Krishna Kumari became the first Hindu woman to be elected to the Pakistani Senate during the March upper house elections. She also belonged to the PPP.

Non-muslims were allowed to contest and vote in the Pakistani general elections after a 2002 amendment brought in by Pervez Musharraf. Malani has held several important positions during his tenure as a member of the Sindh parliament.