Dr Ramesh Kumar seeks amendment in the Article 51 of the Constitution

Lahore: Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, lawmaker from the ruling party PML-N, has introduced a Bill in the National Assembly on Tuesday, for the amendment of Article 51 of the Constitution.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar, who is also Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Hindu Council, while introducing the bill on the floor, said that non-Muslims must have right for dual vote, one for general seat and other for reserved seat.“Besides changing the election criteria of reserved seats for Non-Muslims, it is also proposed to give the right to the Non-Muslims to cast double vote. This means dual franchise and enables Non-Muslims to cast one vote to a general seat candidate and the second to a member of their own community. This way they would remain integrated with the mainstream politics and true representatives of their communities would surface.” The bill draft revealed.

While mentioning examples of Jordan, Lebanon, India and New Zealand, he emphasized that religious and ethnic minorities must be elected through direct vote, not selected on the bases of personal liking and disliking of political parties leadership.

“In 2002, when the general seats were increased from 207 to 272, the reserved seats for non-Muslims remained the same.” The PMLN lawmaker said, adding that reserved seats must be increased according to the proportion of population. He also asked to discourage the unjust current practice by the victories parties to pick their blue-eyed representatives from the Minorities.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar asked to make Minorities’ leaders answerable to their respected community and urged them take keen interest in the welfare and development of their communities.

On the occasion, Dr. Ramesh Kumar, also proposed to unanimously pass a resolution to acknowledge the great contributions of the well-known globally-recognized philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, condemn the recent robbery incident at the Edhi Center, show solidarity and strict action against the culprits.

In the context of upcoming Hindu religious festival “Deewali”, he demanded to take practical steps to provide advance salaries to Hindu employees of both public and private sector. He also raised voice for making “Deewali” a public holiday in Pakistan to promote interfaith harmony.