Muslim representation in Lok Sabha declines: Only 24 out of 78 candidates win
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In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Muslim representation saw a decline, with 24 out of 78 Muslim candidates securing victories across six states and three Union territories. Notably, none of these winners are from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), marking a shift from the previous Lok Sabha, which had 27 Muslim MPs.
The current representation is an increase from the 2014 elections, which saw the lowest Muslim representation at 22 MPs, yet it remains significantly lower than the highest record of 49 MPs in 1980.
West Bengal emerged as a stronghold, electing six Muslim MPs, the highest among all states. Uttar Pradesh followed with five, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir each elected three, Bihar two, and Tamil Nadu, Assam, Telangana, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep each contributed one MP to the total.
The Congress party leads the count with seven elected MPs, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with five, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with four, and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with three.
Assam’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), often perceived as a Muslim-centric party, faced a significant loss when its chief, Badruddin Ajmal, was defeated by Congress's Rakibul Hussain in Dhubri by a margin of 1 million votes.
This loss highlights the shift of the minority vote towards the INDIA bloc, to which AIUDF is not affiliated. Despite the Congress winning three seats and capturing 37.48% of the vote share, the BJP managed to win nine seats with a close 37.43% of the votes.
Danish Ali, a prominent Congress candidate who switched from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), also faced defeat in Amroha, losing to BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri by approximately 28,000 votes.
Conversely, Kerala saw significant victories for Muslim candidates. In Vadakara, Congress’s Shafi Parambil defeated the CPM’s former health minister KK Shylaja with a margin of 1.14 lakh votes. IUML’s ET Mohammed Basheer and MP Abdussamad Samadani secured wins in Malappuram and Ponnani with the second and third-largest victory margins in the state, respectively, trailing only Rahul Gandhi.
The highest victory margin in this election cycle belonged to Rakibul Hussain in Assam, while the narrowest win was in Lakshadweep, where Congress’s Muhammed Hamdullah Syeed edged out the NCP’s Mohammed Faizal by around 2,500 votes.
West Bengal's elected MPs include representatives from Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur, Baharampur, Murshidabad, Basirhat, and Uluberia. The largest margin was in Basirhat, where TMC’s SK Nurul Islam defeated BJP's Rekha Patra by 3.3 lakh votes. The closest contest was in Baharampur, where TMC's Yusuf Pathan defeated Congress's Adhir Ranjan Choudhary by 85,000 votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, Congress’s Imran Masood won Saharanpur, while SP candidates triumphed in Kairana, Ghazipur, Sambhal, and Rampur. SP’s Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur and Zia Ur Rehman from Sambhal achieved notable victories with margins of 1.24 lakh and 1.2 lakh votes, respectively.
In Ladakh, independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa won by 27,862 votes. Jammu and Kashmir saw independent Abdul Rashid Sheikh win Baramulla, while National Conference candidates Mian Altaf Ahmad and Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi won in Anantnag-Rajouri and Srinagar.
Telangana’s Hyderabad continued its familiar trend with AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi winning by over 3.3 lakh votes. In Bihar, Congress’s Tariq Anwar and Mohammad Jawed secured victories in Katihar and Kishanganj, respectively, defeating JD-U candidates.
Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram saw IUML’s K Navas Kani win with the support of the DMK alliance, highlighting the strategic alliances and regional dynamics at play in this election cycle.