Saumitra Khan only Muslim from BJP, representation of community rises to 27 in LS

New Delhi: Saumitra Khan, who won from Bishnupur Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal, will be the lone Muslim lawmaker from BJP in the 17th Lok Sabha and is among the 27 parliamentarians from the community who will be representing the new House.

The number of Muslim MPs in the lower house has marginally risen to 27, compared to 22 in the outgoing.

The BJP won 303 seats in the recently concluded elections. Along with its allies, the party crossed 353 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Among the NDA, Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Mahbub Ali Kaiser is another Muslim candidate who won from Khagaria Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.

The remaining 25 Muslim members are from the opposition parties.

In Uttar Pradesh, six Muslim MPs have made their way to the Lok Sabha. In the 2014 general elections, no candidate from the community emerged victorious.

While Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur, Fazalur Rahman from Saharanpur and Danish Ali from Amroha won on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket, Azam Khan, Shafique Rehman Barq and ST Hasan emerged victorious in Rampur, Sambhal and Moradabad from Samajwadi Party (SP). The two parties had contested the elections together.

In West Bengal, five MPs -- four from Trinamool Congress and one from Congress -- have been elected to the new House. The TMC candidates are -- Nusrat Jahan (Basirhat), Abu Taher Khan (Murshidabad), Sajda Ahmed (Uluberia) and Khalilur Rehman (Jangipur).

Aparupa Poddar, who converted to Islam and is now known as Afrin Ali, also found her way to the new House after winning from Arambagh seat.

With five Muslim MPs, the TMC has the most number of lawmakers from the community that will represent the new House.

Congress' Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury won from Maldaha Dakshin Lok Sabha seat.

In Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah retained his Srinagar seat, while Hasnain Masoodi (Anantnag-NC) and Mohammad Akbar Lone (Baramulla-NC) too emerged victorious from their respective constituencies.

Mohammed Faizal of the Nationalist Congress Party won the lone parliamentary seat in Lakshadweep.

Mohammad Sadique of Congress also won the Faridkot seat from Punjab. Indian Union Muslim League's K Navas Kani also emerged victorious from Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo Asaduddin Owaisi, who won from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for the fourth consecutive time, will get another five-year-term to represent his constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha.

Apart from Owaisi, another Muslim candidate, Imtiaz Jaleel, too emerged victorious from Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Muslim representation in the 16th Lok Sabha had dipped to 22, the lowest figure so far. In the 15th Lok Sabha, 33 members of the community were elected.

In 1980, 49 Muslim members were elected to the Lok Sabha, which was the highest number of the community representing the Lower House of the Parliament.

Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha was the lowest during the 1952 general elections when 11 members from the community were elected to the Lower House of the Parliament.  

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