Of the 78 Muslim candidates who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, only 24 emerged victorious nationwide, continuing a downward trend in representation over the years. In the 2019 elections, 26 Muslim candidates were elected to the Lok Sabha, with four each from the Congress and TMC, three each from the BSP and SP, and one each from the NCP and CPI(M).
In the latest election, Congress candidate Imran Masood won in Saharanpur with a margin of 64,542 votes, while Iqra Choudhary, a 29-year-old Samajwadi Party candidate, secured a victory in Kairana, defeating BJP’s Pradeep Kumar by 69,116 votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party’s Mohibbullah secured the Rampur seat with 4,81,503 votes, while Zia Ur Rehman won in Sambhal by a margin of 1.2 lakh votes. In Jammu and Kashmir, Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference won the Anantnag-Rajouri seat by 2,81,794 votes, defeating former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. In Srinagar, NC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi secured 3,56,866 votes.
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In West Bengal’s Baharampur seat, first-time contender Yusuf Pathan pulled off an upset by defeating Congress veteran and six-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by 85,022 votes. In the Basirhat constituency, which includes Sandeshkhali, TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam defeated BJP candidate Rekha Patra by nearly two lakh votes.
In Uluberia, TMC’s Sajda Ahmed surpassed BJP’s Arunuday Paulchowdhury by a margin of over two lakh votes. In Jangipur, the Trinamool’s Khalilur Rahaman defeated Congress’s Murtoja Hossain Bokul by over one lakh votes. Murshidabad also saw TMC’s Abu Taher Khan surpass CPI(M)’s Md Salim by over one lakh votes. In Maldaha West, Congress’s Isha Khan Choudhary defeated BJP’s Sreerupa Mitra Choudhary by a margin of 1.2 lakh votes.
In Lakshadweep, Congress’s Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed narrowly won, surpassing Mohammed Faizal PP of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) by just 2,000 votes.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)’s Navaskani K secured a victory in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram. In Kerala’s Ponnani, IUML’s Dr. M P Abdussamad Samadani defeated CPI(M)’s K.S. Hamza. In Vadakara, Congress’s Shafi Parambil defeated CPI(M)’s Shailaja Teacher by a margin of over one lakh votes. IUML also triumphed in the Malappuram constituency, where E T Mohammed Basheer defeated CPI(M)’s V Vaseef by over three lakh votes.
In Bihar, Congress’s Tariq Anwar won from Katihar, surpassing Janata Dal (United)’s Dulal Chandra Goswami by nearly 50,000 votes. In Kishanganj, Congress’s Mohammad Jawed defeated JD(U)’s Mujahid Alam by almost 60,000 votes. In Assam’s Dhubri constituency, traditionally an AIUDF stronghold, Badruddin Ajmal was defeated by Congress’s Rakibul Hussain.
This year, the BSP fielded 35 Muslim candidates, the highest among all parties. Of these, more than half (17) were in Uttar Pradesh, with four in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Bihar and Delhi, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Telangana, and Gujarat.
The Congress followed with 19 Muslim candidates, the largest number being in West Bengal at six, followed by two each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, and UP, and one each in Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Telangana, and Lakshadweep. The TMC had the third highest number of Muslim candidates, fielding six, five of whom are from West Bengal and one from Assam.
The SP has four Muslim candidates, three from UP and one from Andhra Pradesh. Notably, the SP replaced one of its sitting Muslim MPs in UP, Moradabad’s S T Hasan, with a Hindu candidate, Ruchi Veera. Excluding J&K, the highest number of Muslim candidates are contesting in UP (22), followed by West Bengal (17), Bihar (seven), Kerala (six), and Madhya Pradesh (four). Assam, which has a high proportion of Muslims in its population, has three Muslim candidates, down from four last time.
S.Q.R. Rasool Illyas, president of the Welfare Party of India, who was a candidate from the Jangipur constituency in West Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, said, “Due to the narrative which has been created by the BJP, political parties are giving fewer and fewer tickets to Muslim candidates.”
Political analyst Rashid Kidwai believes that even with a reduced mandate for the BJP, it is unlikely that a higher number of Muslim candidates would be nominated. He asserted, “I don’t see this changing anytime soon. The Muslim voter in 2024 has voted very carefully. Muslims have tacitly taken a step back and voted for safety and security. They (Muslim voters) would surely want a seat at the high table, but for now they are insecure about safety and security issues, and have made decisive choices while voting.”
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