ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: Of the seven minority communities living in the country Hindus constitute the largest group as they have 1.4 million voters, according to the data compiled by the National Database and Registration Authority.

Nadra has compiled the data of citizens on the basis of the faiths they declared in application forms they submitted for obtaining the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC). According to the data, the country has followers of seven faiths other than Islam.

Hindu and Christian are the leading minority communities as numbers of their members run into millions. Other minority communities are Sikh, Parsi, Qadiyani, Bahai and Buddhist.

The data show that over 1.4 million Hindus have CNICs. Over 769,000 of them are men and about 645,000 women.

The Christians are the second largest minority in Pakistan with 1.27 million CNIC holders — 731,713 men and 538,338 women.

Among the Qadiyanis, 125,681 have CNICs — 63,479 men and 62,202 women.

There are at least 33,734 Bahai CNIC holders, among them 17,948 men and 15,786 women.

Those who declared Sikhism as their faith included 3,246 men and 2,900 women.

Among the believers of other faiths are 4,020 Parsis —1,916 men and 2,104 women — and 1,492 Buddhists — 776 men and 716 women.

Besides voting for seats reserved for non-Muslims in national and provincial assemblies, members of the minority communities can also vote for general seats. It is estimated that four per cent of the Pakistanis are non-Muslim.