In a state where Muslims constitute over 13 percent of its total population and major issues like the Hijab row and the scrapping of 4% reservation are on the boil, a mere nine individuals from the community are going to step into the Vidhan Soudha as MLAs in the term 2023-2028, which is a marginal improvement (7) from the last term’s election result.
The total strength of the Karnataka Vidhan Soudha is 224 and this result takes its Muslim representation to a mere 4 percent.
But, one thing didn’t change from the last term. All winners from the community in Karnataka elections 2023 are candidates of the Congress party. Despite the attempt of the JD(S) to woo Muslim voters by fielding 23 candidates from the community this time, not even one candidate won the election.
The Assembly had nine Muslim members in 2008. In 2013, the number had risen to 11, with nine from the Congress and two from the Janata Dal (Secular). It is to be noted that the JD(S) at the last minute also declined the idea of an alliance with the AIMIM.
The Owaisi-led outfit contested in 2 seats and only garnered 0.02 percent of the total votes polled in the election winning zero seats and the Students Democratic Party of India (SDPI) which fielded 16 candidates (11 Muslims, 5 others) drew a blank.
Muslims account for more than 30% of the electorate in at least 19 of the state’s seats.
Here’s the list of Muslim candidates who won the election
From Uttar Belgaum, Asif (Raju) Sait defeated BJP’s Ravi B Patil by 4231 votes
From Uttar Gulbarga, Kaneez Fatima defeated BJP’s Chandrakant B Patil by 2712 votes
From Bidar, Rahim Khan defeated Suryakanth Nagamarpalli of the JD(S) by 10780 votes
From Shivajinagar, Rizwan Arshad defeated BJP’s N Chandra by 23194 votes
From Shanti Nagar, NA Haris defeated BJP’s K Shivakumar by 7125 votes
From Chamrajpet, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan defeated BJP’s Bhaskar Rao by 53953 votes
From Ramanagaram, HA Iqbal Hussain defeated Nikhil Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) by 10715 votes
From Mangaluru, UT Khader Fareed defeated BJP’s Sathish Kumpala by 22790 votes
From Narasimharaja, Tanveer Sait defeated S Satheesh Sandesh Swamy of the BJP by 31120 votes
The top Muslim participation was 16 MLAs in 1978, while the lowest was two Muslims under Ramakrishna Hegde’s chief ministership in 1983.
