NGO's bid to increase voting percentage among Muslims

Mumbai: Taking into consideration poor voting percentage among Muslims in the elections in the past, a prominent Muslim organisation Raza Academy has initiated a campaign to spread awareness about the importance of casting vote, among the Muslim community. NGO Raza Academy has asked Muslim clerics to convey the message to people during Friday prayers. The campaign is named ‘Come out of homes and vote’.

Saeed Noori, head of Raza Academy said, “We held a meeting of senior and prominent clerics at our office a few days back to discuss poor voting percentage among Muslims. During the meeting, it was decided that awareness about the importance of casting the vote would be spread through mosques. The message was conveyed to various mosques across the city, asking clerics to include the subject of casting the vote in their Friday discourse.” Noori added, “A huge number of Muslims gather to offer Friday's namaz and therefore it is easier to reach out to more people.”

Raza Academy claimed that several prominent Muslim clerics including Mohammad Rizwan Razvi, deputy secretary of Sunni Dawat-e-Islami also included the message in his discourse on Friday in Ratnagiri's Jama Masjid. “We are not asking people to vote for any specific political party; we want to make sure that people come out in huge numbers and cast their vote. We are trying to explain that casting a vote is the right of a person, and also an obligation.”