New Delhi: The Muslim vote bank has emerged as a key factor in many constituencies across the country in 2024 general elections. However, the community’s representation in the Lok Sabha has not increased. The 18th Lok Sabha will see 26 Muslim MPs, which is same as 2019 elections.
Despite being the second largest community in the country, the representation in Lok Sabha was the lowest, at 22 members, in 2014 polls; the highest was at 49 in 1980.
A total of 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties.
According to political observers, since BJP came to power in 2014, major political parties have been shying away from fielding Muslim candidates in Lok Sabha elections, fearing a polarised contest.
“Due to the narrative which has been created by the BJP, political parties are giving fewer and fewer tickets to Muslim candidates,” S.Q.R. Rasool Illyas, president of the Welfare Party of India told The Hindu.
The key members of INDIA bloc like SP and TMC had fielded less number of candidates in 2024 than in previous elections. Even, the number of Muslim candidate in the Congress list also dropped this time. Congress nominated 19 Muslims in 2024 as compared to 34 in 2019. The TMC fielded six Muslim candidates when compared with 13 in 2019. The Samajwadi Party (SP) had only four Muslim candidates, eight in 2019.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielded 35 Muslim candidates in 2024, the highest among all parties, albeit almost half of the 61 it fielded in 2014.
There are 15 Muslim-majority constituencies in India. Among them, Baharampur in West Bengal. Former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan secured a comfortable victory over Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Congress veteran’s Baharampur bastion.
Congress candidate Imran Masood from Saharanpur won by a margin of 64,542 votes while Iqra Choudhary, a 29-year-old Samajwadi Party candidate from Kairana, secured victory over BJP Pradeep Kumar by 69,116 votes.
Afzal Ansari, the incumbent MP from Ghazipur, won the seat by bagging 5.3 lakh votes while AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi retained his Hyderabad seat by a margin of 3,38,087 votes over his nearest rival BJP’s Madhavi Latha Kompella.
In Ladakh, Independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa secured a victory by a margin of 27,862 votes while another Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh won Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla seat by bagging 4.7 lakh votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party’s Mohibbullah won the Rampur seat by securing 4,81,503 votes, while Zia Ur Rehman won in Sambhal by a margin of 1.2 lakh votes.
Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference won in Jammu and Kahsmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri seat by 2,81,794 votes against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. In Srinagar NC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi secured 3,56,866 votes.
In West Bengal’s Baharampur seat, first-time contender Yusuf Pathan beat Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha and six-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by 85,022 votes.
The Muslim voter in 2024 has voted very carefully and tacitly taken a step back and voted for safety and security, a political observer said.
(With inputs from agencies)
