104 Muslim MLAs elected across five regions, none from BJP
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A total of 104 Muslim MLAs have been elected in the recently concluded assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, but none belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 104 legislators account for about 14.36 per cent of the 723 elected representatives across the four states and one Union territory. The BJP, which did not field a single Muslim candidate in any of these elections, has no Muslim MLA in Assam or West Bengal, where it secured victories following campaigns focused on removing “infiltrators.”
The issue gained political attention after Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju accused the Congress of becoming a “Muslim League Party” and practising divisive politics. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also made similar remarks.
In West Bengal, where Muslims make up 27 per cent of the population according to the 2011 Census, 40 Muslim MLAs were elected out of 293 seats. Of these, 34 belong to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, two to Congress and one each to the Indian Secular Front and CPI(M). Humayun Kabir won from two constituencies.
Assam elected 22 Muslim MLAs, including 18 from Congress. The others belong to Raijor Dal, Trinamool Congress and AIUDF. The state’s 2023 delimitation exercise reduced Muslim-majority seats from 35 to 22.
Kerala elected 35 Muslim MLAs, with 30 from the Congress-led UDF alliance. These include members from Congress, IUML, CPI(M) and CPI.
Tamil Nadu elected seven Muslim MLAs, while Puducherry elected none.
The debate over Muslim political representation has continued nationally. In the current Lok Sabha, 24 of 545 MPs are Muslims, and none are from the BJP. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate responded to the BJP’s criticism by stating that around 78 per cent of Congress MLAs are Hindus.