16 Years After Non-Muslims Got Right To Vote In Pak, 1st Hindu Wins Seat
ISLAMABAD, July 28: Mahesh Kumar Malani of the Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) has become the first Hindu candidate to win a National Assembly seat, 16 years after non-Muslims got the right to vote and contest on general seats in the country.
Mahesh Kumar Malani contested and won the National Assembly (NA-222) Tharparkar-II seat in southern Sindh province, after defeating 14 candidates, the Dawn reported.
He received 1,06,630 votes while his opponent, Arbab Zakaullah of the Grand Democratic Alliance, garnered 87,251 votes.
Mr Malani, a Pakistani Hindu Rajasthani Pushkarna Brahmin politician, was a member of parliament from 2003-08 on a reserved seat, nominated by the PPP.
In 2013, Mr Malani became the first non-Muslim Member of the Provincial Assembly after winning the Tharparkar-III general seat of the Sindh Assembly.
He had served as the chairperson of the Sindh Assembly's Standing Committee on Food, apart from being members of various standing committees during the last government's tenure.
Non-Muslims got the right to vote and contest on general seats of the parliament and provincial assemblies in 2002 after the then president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf made amendments in the Constitution.
They also have reserved seats in the Senate, national and provincial assemblies.
Ten seats are reserved for minorities in the National Assembly, which are allotted to parties on the basis of the number of seats they have in the parliament.
Women and non-Muslims in Pakistan get two opportunities to become a lawmaker: first by contesting elections on 272 general seats from anywhere and after getting the nomination from a party having representation in the National Assembly.
In March this year, PPP's Krishna Kumari from Tharparkar became the first Hindu woman to be elected to the Senate. She was elected to a reserved seat for women from Sindh.
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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Three arrested for obstructing police while escorting Mahesh Shetty Timarodi
Udupi, Aug 21: Police have arrested three persons for allegedly obstructing duty and ramming a car into a police vehicle while officers were bringing accused Mahesh Shetty Timarodi to the Brahmavar Police Station in connection with a case registered there.
The arrested have been identified as Srujan L., Hitesh Shetty, and Sahan, all residents of Ujire. They were produced before the court, which remanded them to judicial custody. Police said the car used in the incident has also been seized.
According to police, when Timarodi was being escorted from Ujire to Brahmavar, a group of his supporters followed the convoy in their vehicles. Despite repeated warnings not to interfere with police movement, the supporters allegedly continued to obstruct the vehicles. Near Hosmar, under Karkala Rural Police Station limits, they allegedly rammed their car into an official vehicle (bearing registration number KA 20 G 0669) belonging to the Udupi District Additional Superintendent of Police, in an attempt to prevent the police team from taking Timarodi to Brahmavar.
Following the incident, a case was registered at Karkala Rural Police Station. The three accused were later arrested and their car was seized. They have now been placed under judicial custody.
