New Delhi: The number of Muslim MPs in the Lok Sabha has increased to a decade high of 27, up from 23 the last time with a dozen of them winning from Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, AIMIM’s outspoken chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan are among the high profile Muslim candidates who have won the polls.
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which have considerable Muslim population, have six candidates each from the community to the Lok Sabha. Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir have three Muslim MPs each while Assam and Bihar have two each. There is one MP each from the community from Punjab, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep and Telangana.
Among the political parties, Trinamool Congress has five Muslim MPs, followed by four of Congress. There are three Muslim MPs each from Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), National Conference and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
AIMIM has sent two Muslim MPs, including party chief Owaisi, while there is one Muslim MP each from Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP, Sharad Pawar’s NCP, CPI(M) and perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal’s party AIUDF, as per latest data from the Election Commission.
Nearly 20 per cent of the country’s 130 crore population are Muslims. The previous 14th and 15th Lok Sabha had 30 and 34 Muslim MPs, respectively, when Congress-led UPA was in power. In 1980, the Lok Sabha had the maximum number of Muslim MPs at 49. In 1984, when Rajiv Gandhi swept to power, the number fell to 42.
In the latest Lok Sabha polls, ruling BJP fielded six Muslim candidates – three from Jammu and Kashmir, two from West Bengal and one from Lakshadweep. But none could win.
Other than the three mentioned, the other Muslims who will be in the 17th Lok Sabha are Imtiaz Jaleel Syed (AIMIM, Aurangabad), Choudhary Mehbhoob Ali Kaiser (LJP, Khagaria, Bihar), Badruddin Ajmal (AIUDF, Dhubri, Assam), Mohd Fazal (NCP, Lakshadweep), Mohd Jawed (Congress, Kishanganj, Bihar),, Abu Hasem Khan (Congress, Malda South, West Bengal), Abdul Khaleque (Congress, Barpeta, Assam), Nusrat Jahan (TMC, Basirhat, West Bengal), Afrin Ali (TMC, Arambagh, West Bengal), Khalil-ur-Rahaman (TMC, Jangipur, West Bengal), Abu Tahar Khan (TMC, Mursibadad, West Bengal) and Sajda Ahmed (TMC, Uluberia, West Bengal), ST Hasan SP, Moradabad, UP), Shafiqur Rehman (SP, Sambhal, UP), Afzal Ansari(BSP, Ghazipur, UP), Danish Ali (BSP, Amroha, UP), Haji Fazlur Rehman (BSP, Saharanpur, UP), PK Kunhalikutty, IUML, Malappuram, Kerala) and ET Mohammad Basheer (IUML, Ponnani, Kerala), AM Ariff (CPI-M, Alappuzha, Kerala), K Navas Kani (Congress, Ramanathapuram, TN), Hasnain Masoodi (National Conference, Anantnag, J&K), Mohd Akbar Lone (National Conference, Baramulla, J&K) and Mohammad Sadique (Congress, Faridkote, Punjab).
PTI