Muslim in Parliament: Representation to increase slightly

NEW DELHI: In the 17th Lok Sabha, Muslim representation increase marginally from the previous election with as many as 26 candidates having won.

The outgoing Lok Sabha had the lowest representation of Muslims since 1952. Only 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC made it to the Lok Sabha in 2014. In previous 14th and 15th Lok Sabha when Congress-led UPA was in power, it had 30 and 34 Muslim MPs each.

However this time the number is expected to increase slightly.

Among prominent Muslim politicians who won from different constituencies are All India Majlis-e-Itthadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) head Asaduddin Owaisi from Hyderabad, perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal from Dhubri in Assam, Azam Khan from Rampur and Farooq Abdullah from National Conference.

Owaisi won the Lok Sabha election from Hyderabad by 2, 82,186 votes for the fourth time and will became the longest serving Muslim candidate. His party candidate Imtiaz Jaleel Syed, a former journalist, was leading by nearly 4,500 votes from Aurangabad constituency in Maharashtra.

The most important development in this respect is the victory of AIMIM candidate, journalist-turned-politician Imtiyaz Jaleel Syed. After nearly 18 hours of nail-biting suspense, Jaleel finally wrested the Aurangabad seat from the Shiv Sena, while the Congress managed to bag Chandrapur defeating Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir.

Finally, he was declared elected with a margin of 4,492 votes over Khaire – giving the AIMIM its first MP from Maharashtra.

With this, for the first time since its inception, the AIMIM will have two MPs in Parliament.

Another Muslim-dominated party – the Indian Union Muslim League – won all the three seats it contested. Its candidates PK Kunhalikutty and ET Muhammad Basheer won from the IUML bastions in Kerala – Malappuram and Ponnani respectively. In addition to this, the IUML’s Nawaz Kani won from the Ramanathapuram seat in Tamil Nadu, as part of the DMK-led alliance.

In Jammu and Kashmi, three Muslims were elected Jammu and Kashmir all belonging to the National Conference. Farooq Abdullah won from Srinagar by 70,050 votes, Mohammad Akbar Lone from Baramulla by over 30,000 votes and Hasnain Masoodi from Anantnag seat by 6,676 votes.

Two Muslim candidates won in Assam, where the community forms over 30 percent of the population. Badruddin Ajmal from AIUDF in Dhubri and Abdul Khaleque of the Congress in Barpeta.

Two Muslim candidates emerged as winners in Bihar: Chaudhary Mehboob Ali Kaiser of the Lok Janshakti Party in Khagaria and Mohammad Jawed of the Congress in Kishanganj. Mohammad Faizal of the NCP in Lakshadweep.
Congress, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), and National Conference (NC) are expected to sent three Muslim candidates each.

These Muslim candidates won in different constituencies across India: