Ramesh Kumar Vankwani () is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the

National Assembly of Pakistan The National Assembly of Pakistan, also referred to as ''Aiwān-ē-Zairīñ'', is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Pakistan, with the upper house being the Senate of Pakistan, Senate. As of 2023, the National Assem ...

, from August 2018 till August 2023. But in 2022 he left PTI to join PPP. Previously he was member of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2018 and a member of the

Provincial Assembly of Sindh The Provincial Assembly of Sindh is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, its provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of Pakis ...

from 2002 to 2007. He was considered a strongest candidate to contest general elections 2024 from NA-241 Karachi on the ticket of PPP. However, he was not awarded the ticket and his nomination on the reserved seats in National Assembly was not liked by the ideological workers of PPP on the bases that he had been known changing political parties in the past two decades.

Education and background

Vankwani possesses bachelor's degree of medicine and bachelor's degree of surgery. He was born in Islamkot,

Tharparkar Tharparkar (Dhatki language, Dhatki/; , ), also known as Thar, is a district in Sindh province in Pakistan, headquartered at Mithi. Before Indian independence it was known as the Thar and Parkar (1901⁠–⁠1947) or Eastern Sindh Frontier Distr ...

in 1974, into a Sindhi Hindu family.

Political career

Vankwani ran for the seat of the

as an independent candidate from Constituency PS-61 (Tharparkar-II) in the

2002 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 10 October 2002 to elect the 12th National Assembly and four Provincial Assemblies. The elections were held under the military government of Pervez Musharraf. The two mainstream parties, Pakistan ...

, but was unsuccessful. He received 34 votes and lost the seat to a candidate of National Alliance. In the same election, he was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Sindh as a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League (Q) The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam Group) ; ''Pākistān Muslim Līg (Qāf)'', Acronyms: PML(Q), PML-Q, PMLQ, "Q League" (officially registered as the Pakistan Muslim League) is a political party in Pakistan. As of the 2024 parliamentary e ...

on a reserved seat for minorities. He founded

Pakistan Hindu Council Pakistan Hindu Council () is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 by Ramesh Kumar Vankwani. The council aims to promote interfaith harmony between various religions. History The Pakistan Hindu Council was founded by the Ramesh Kumar Vankw ...

in 2005. Vankwani was elected to the

as a candidate of

Pakistan Muslim League (N) The Pakistan Muslim League (N) or (PML(N)) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right, Conservatism in Pakistan, conservative political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate of Pakistan, Senate and the larges ...

(PML-N) on a reserved seat for minorities in the

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the List of members of the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly and the four Subdivisions of Pakistan, Pr ...

. Vankwani came to the limelight in September 2014, when he along with Rehman Malik was removed from a flight from

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

because of their late check-in which caused the flight to delay. In January 2018, he was elected as the chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee for Statistics. In April 2018, he quit PML-N and joined

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a political party in Pakistan established in 1996 by cricketer and politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The party is led by Gohar Ali Khan since late 2023. ...

(PTI). He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of PTI on a reserved seat for minorities in

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

. He stood against his party policy in no confidence motion. On 13 May 2024, the

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, local g ...

(ECP) suspended his membership as a member of the National Assembly. This action followed a

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

decision to suspend the verdict of the

Peshawar High Court The Peshawar High Court (PHC, ) is the provincial and highest judicial institution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. It is located in the provincial capital Peshawar. The Parliament passed a bill extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Cour ...

, which had denied the allocation of a reserved seat to the PTI-Sunni Ittehad Council bloc.

References

Living people Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018 Pakistani Hindus Sindh MPAs 2002–2007 Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNAs Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023 1974 births Pakistani MNAs 2024–2029 {{Sindh-MPA-stub

Education and background

Political career

See also

References