Meet Tabassum Hasan, lone Muslim MP to enter Lok Sabha since 2014

LUCKNOW: Tabassum Hasan, the opposition party backed Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate has won from the politically-crucial Kairana Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The Kairana seat fell vacant after the the demise of BJP MP Hukum Singh, who died in February due to prolonged illness. The BJP pitted his daughter Mriganka Singh as the party candidate against Tabassum Hasan, who emerges victorious by defeating Mriganka Singh with nearly 50,000 votes.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 18 per cent of the Muslim population and not even a single MP belonging to Muslim community won in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

With the victory of gathbandhan (united opposition) in Kairana, Tabassum, a former lawmaker is all set to become the only Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh.

48-year-old Tabassum is wife of former BSP MP Munawwar Hasan entered the politics on BSP ticket and had won the Kairana seat in 2009 Lok Sabha elections by defeating Kairana heavyweight Hukum Singh who wrested the seat in 2014.

Elated with her initial leads, the Hasan said the result of the by-polls cleared the path for the united opposition in 2019.

Talking to ANI, Hasan termed her win as a victory of truth. “I still stand by what I said, there has been a conspiracy & we do not want any future elections to be conducted on EVM machines. The path for united opposition is clear in 2019.”, Hasan said earlier in the day.