The Citizenship Amendment Act in India is facing protests across the country. As a result, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are repeatedly making false claims in favor of the Act.

On Saturday, Home Minister Amit Shah said during a rally in Hubli, Karnataka, "In Afghanistan, the effigy of Buddha was fired from a cannon. He (Hindu-Sikh) was not given the right to contest elections there (Afghanistan-Pakistan), was not given health facilities, did not arrange education for him. All the refugees who were Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians came to seek refuge in India.

In fact, in advocating for the Citizenship Amendment Act, Amit Shah was explaining how Sikhs, Hindu refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are being persecuted in their country and are not being given fundamental rights.

This new law talks about granting citizenship to non-Muslim communities from neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. People are opposing this provision of the Act.

Amit Shah claimed that minorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan cannot contest elections? Is Amit Shah's claim correct? Are minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh not allowed to contest elections or vote?

To find out, the BBC tried to understand the electoral rights of minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. At the same time, it was investigated that what rights have been given to them in the electoral process at the present time.

Electoral rights of minorities in Pakistan

According to Article 51 (2A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, 10 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan, are reserved for minorities. In addition, reservation has been given for 23 seats in the assembly of four provinces.

Pakistan has a total of 342 seats and out of which 272 seats are directly elected by the public and send their representatives. 10 seats are reserved for minorities and 60 seats are reserved for women.

There are two ways for minorities to reach Parliament:

These reserved 10 seats are divided by political parties based on how many seats they have won out of 272. The party itself decides the minority candidates on these seats and sends them to Parliament.

Another option is that any minority can contest any seat. In such a situation, his victory will be based on the votes received directly from the public.

Any minority is free to vote for any candidate contesting from their constituency. That is, the right to vote is equal for all.

After independence, the constitution of Pakistan was made in 1956, then it was repealed and the second constitution came in 1958 and it was also repealed and the third constitution was made in 1973 which is still valid. This constitution talks about giving equal rights to minorities in Pakistan.

That is, not only are seats reserved for minorities in Pakistan, they can also contest from other seats.

In the 2018 elections Mahesh Malani, Hariram Kishwari Lal and Gyan Chand Asrani contested from parliamentary and un-reserved seats of assembly from Sindh province and reached Parliament.

What are the electoral rights of Hindu-Sikhs in Afghanistan?

Now talk about Afghanistan. Since 1988, Afghanistan has been the victim of civil war and Taliban violence. The location of the extremist organization al-Qaeda also remained in Afghanistan. In 2002, an interim government was formed and Hamid Karzai became the President. After this, in the elections of 2005, the representatives of the lower house and upper house of the country elected and the parliament of Afghanistan became stronger.

What is the population of Afghanistan? Its exact official data does not exist because the census could not be done here after the 70s. But according to the World Bank, the population here is 3.7 crore.

At the same time, according to the report of the US Department of Justice, in which the number of Hindu-Sikh minorities here are just between 1000 and 1500.

There are 249 seats in the lower house of Afghanistan, ie, where the public directly elects representatives. Minorities have the freedom to contest elections here. But according to the rules, at least 5000 people had to show their support while naming in the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

These rules were the same for all but it made it difficult for the minority community to send their representative to the Parliament. Ashraf Ghani came to power in 2014 and has reserved a seat in the lower house, given the equation of Hindu-Sikh minorities.

At this time, Narinder Singh Khalsa MP is on this seat. In addition, a seat in the Upper House of Afghanistan is reserved for religious minorities. Right now, Anarkali Kaur Honyar is the Member of Parliament in this House. These names are decided by the minority community, which are sent directly to Parliament by the President.

Apart from this, any minority can vote for the candidate of his / her constituency. Also, minorities can contest elections from any seat, provided they get the support of five thousand people for themselves.

The BBC spoke to Afghan MP Narinder Singh Khalsa and wanted to know how the minority Sikh-Hindus of Afghanistan have electoral rights?

He said, "Minorities have the freedom to contest elections and also have the freedom to vote. There was never a ban, but in the last thirty years, due to the violence of Taliban, there was a rapid migration and our numbers kept decreasing. Four years ago we got a reserve seat because we could not muster five thousand support. And the matter was heard. We have problems with the Taliban, not the government. Even today, no Hindu-Sikh, whether I vote or my favorite candidate, there is no restriction on the voters. If we gain support, then we can contest elections in more than one seat. ''

The BBC Pashto journalist based in London, Emael Pasharli, says that "a stable government is being formed in the country since 2005". But minorities were never denied the right to vote or contest elections. In the last three decades, not only Hindu-Sikhs, but also those who believe in other religious beliefs have migrated. Civil war has been the reason for this. ''

Any minority can contest elections in Bangladesh

In the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, seats have not been reserved for any minority community, but only 50 seats have been reserved for women.

Bangladesh Parliament has 350 seats out of which 50 seats are reserved for women. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, out of 79 minority candidates, 18 candidates had reached Parliament.

Earlier, there were similar minority MPs in the 10th Parliament of Bangladesh. According to the local newspaper Dhaka Tribune, 14 MPs in the 9th Parliament of Bangladesh were from the minority community, while eight MPs in the Eighth Parliament were in the minority.

That is, minorities have been given equal electoral rights in Bangladesh politics.

How is reservation in the Indian Parliament different from Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Article 334 (a) of the Constitution of India provides for reservation for Scheduled Castes (Hindus) and Scheduled Tribes (Hindus) in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies. Presently, this is the only reservation in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assembly in which seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (Hindus) and Scheduled Tribes (Hindus). There are no seats reserved for minorities in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies in India.

According to the 1950 notification of the President of India, only Hindu castes would be scheduled castes.

Out of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 79 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (Hindu) and 41 seats for Scheduled Tribes (Hindu). At the same time, out of 3,961 seats in the assemblies, 543 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (Hindu) and 527 seats for Scheduled Tribes (Hindus). Everyone votes in these seats, but only the SC or ST candidates.

A reserved seat in India means that the candidate on this seat will be from the scheduled class. All political parties will give tickets to such candidates but their election will be based on the vote of the people.

India does not have a seat reserved for minorities like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Modi government abolished two seats reserved for Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, last year.

Amit Shah claims that minorities cannot contest elections in Pakistan and Afghanistan? His claim is completely untrue.

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