New Delhi: In a major setback for Muslim representation in the Parliament, the new Lok Sabha with an overwhelming number of BJP MPs will have just 24 Muslim parliamentarians - a tally lowest since the first general election of 1952 and down from 30 in the last Lok Sabha.
Notable Muslims who have won the 2014 general elections include Asaduddin Owaisi of Hyderabad, E Ahmed of Kerala, Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi from Bihar, Badruddin Ajmal and Sirajuddin Ajmal from Assam, Mohd Salim of CPIM West Bengal, Sultan Ahmed of TMC, West Bengal and Tariq Anwar of NCP.
Interestingly, the BJP almost sweeped the 2014 general election, but its Muslim face and former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain could not win. Shahnawaz Hussain faced defeat at the hands of RJD's Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal by a slender margin of 9,485 votes at Bhagalpur seat.
West Bengal is the state which has elected maximum number of Muslim MPs. There will be a total of eight Muslim MPs from the state.
Other states which have elected the MPs from the Muslim community are Jammu & Kashmir (four), Bihar (four), Kerala (three), Assam (two) and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep (one each). Of these, of course J&K as well as Lakshadweep have Muslim-majority populations.
The worst is in Uttar Pradesh where not a single Muslim could win the election. This is the first time after independence that UP has not sent a single Muslim MP from the state.
Notable losers from Uttar Pradesh are Union Minister Salman Khurshid, sitting MP Mohd Adeeb, cricketer Mohd Kaif, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Sahfeequr Rehman Bark and Naseer Ah Khan.
Shafeeque Rehman Khan lost the election from Sanbhal by just 5,000 votes whereas Naseer Ah Khan lost from Rampur by some 23,000 votes. On both these seats, Congress candidates were responsible for dividing the secular votes.
Muslims constituted 4.3% of the first Lok Sabha in 1952, but their proportion has hovered between five and six per cent for the last quarter of a century after dropping from a high of 9.3% or 49 members in the LS elected in the 1980 elections.
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