Meet Dr Sawera Parkash, The First Hindu Woman To Contest In Pakistan General Elections

Dr. Sawera Parkash is a resident of Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She is contesting the elections from PK-25 general seat on the ticket of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

New Delhi: Pakistan is going to have general elections in February and the candidates have filed their nominations for them. Among the nominees for the elections is a Hindu woman contesting a general elections in the country for the first time. Dr. Sawera Parkash is a resident of Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She is a medical graduate and is preparing to contest the elections from PK-25 general seat on the ticket of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

According to a report by Dawn, Sawera Parkash is the secretary-general of the women’s wing of PPP. Her father, Dr. Om Parkash, has been a member of PPP for more than three decades. Sawera completed her MBBS degree from a private college, Abbottabad International Medical College, in 2022. She told Dawn that her medical background confirms that serving humanity is in her blood. She expressed her desire to work in the field of women empowerment in Pakistan.

Sawera’s Motivation To Fight Elections

She said that she had experienced the poor condition of government hospitals in Pakistan herself. This motivated her to contest the elections. The elections in Pakistan will be held on February 8, 2024, during which candidates will contest for 266 general seats of the National Assembly. By Monday, at least 28,626 candidates had filed their nomination papers for the elections. In Pakistan, 60 seats are reserved for women, while the number of seats for non-Muslims is 10. In addition, they can contest on all 266 seats.

Sawera Among The Rising Number Of Women candidates

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that out of the total 28,626 candidates, 3,139 women (more than 11 percent) had filed nomination papers for the general elections this time. This is much higher than the number of women who filed nomination papers for the general elections in 2018 and 2013. During the general elections in 2018, 1,687 women had filed nomination papers, which was slightly more than the 1,171 women who filed nomination papers in the 2013 elections. ECP officials are verifying the documents and also accepting objections against the nominations. This process will continue till December 30.