Krishna Kumari Kohli, a Dalit woman, was on Saturday elected to the Pakistan Senate, AP reported. She is the first woman from the community to be elected to the position.

Lawmakers in national and four provincial assemblies in Pakistan elected 52 out of the 104 members in Pakistan’s upper house of Parliament. Krishna Kumari, who contested on a Pakistan People’s Party ticket from a constituency reserved for women candidates in Tharparkar district.

“I feel delighted, it was unthinkable for me to reach the Senate,” Kohli told AP. “I will continue to work for the rights of the oppressed people, especially for the empowerment of women, their health and education.”

Kohli was born in a poor family and her parents worked as bonded labour on village lands, Geo News reported. “We didn’t have electricity so I used to study under the light of an oil lantern,” she told the channel.

Kohli said she was married off while she was in ninth grade, but her husband and in-laws supported her education. In 2013, Kohli received her master’s degree in sociology from University of Sindh, Geo News said.

“Many laws have been drafted for the rights of women but none of them have been implemented. This is something I wish to change,” the newly-elected senator told the channel.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz party won 15 seats in Saturday’s elections, taking its tally in the Senate up to 33. Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party finished runner-up, and former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf came third.