Up to 90 percent of Muslim voters in the north-east Punjab province have abstained from the forthcoming ballot because of outrage over voter cards that categorises them outside of their religion.
The majority of the district are Ahmadi Muslims, which has not been given a separate category on the form, meaning voters of the strict faith have no other option but to classify themselves as non-Muslim for the sake of the election.
The cards have sparked fury among Ahmadi Muslims who say they are being discriminated against and their minority sect has been negatively targeted.
Salim Ud Din, a community spokesman, said: “It’s a matter of our faith so there can be no compromise on that.”
Community leaders have slammed an anti-Ahmadi rhetoric in the lead-up to the nation’s general election as politicians seek to rally support among religiously conservative voters in the hope to head off challenges posed by Islamist parties.
Ahmadi Muslims demonstrate the recognition of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the sect in British-ruled India in 1889.
They see him as a prophet but this is viewed by the Sunni majority as a breach of the Islamic tenet that the Prophet Mohammad was God’s last direct messenger.
By law they cannot call their places of worship mosques or distribute religious literature, recite the Koran or use traditional Islamic greetings, measures they argue criminalise their daily lives.
Last year, a spat over proposed changes to the election law that would have eased some of the restrictions on Ahmadi Muslims participating in elections saw a group of them denounced on the floor of Pakistan’s parliament.
Election observers have said that should Pakistan’s half a million Ahmadi Muslims were to participate, their vote could swing the results of more than 20 seats in Punjab, the most populous province where Pakistani elections are won and lost.
Pakistan’s election comes at a time of political instability.
The election, which represents only the second democratic transition in a country that was ruled by the military for half its life, comes after a brief campaign.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s centre-right Movement for Justice, also known as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is expected to be the main challenger to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
The 65-year-old took Pakistan’s national cricket team to to World Cup victory in 1992 and then entered politics five years later.
Nawaz Sharif, who is 68 and the head of a wealthy industrialist family from Lahore, held the prime minister’s office three times in the 1990s.
But Mr Sharif, also known as the Lion of Punjab, has never completed a stint in office an has recently been ousted over corruption allegations.
The 29-year-old son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is also due to stand.
The poll will be held on July 25.