Muslim numbers in Parliament slightly up, but still far from population share

Mumbai: The election results may push the number of Muslim MPs in the Lower House of the Parliament from 23 to 25.

The Indian Express has reported that the Muslim representation in the parliament is less than five per cent whereas the community has 14 per cent share in the population.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has won 303 out of 542 seats, had fielded two Muslim candidates in West Bengal, one in Lakshadweep and three in Kashmir. None of the candidates stood victorious. The party has no other Muslim representation.

BJP's ally Lok Janshakti Party shall be represented by Mehboob Ali Kaiser from Khagaria constituency among five others.

Mahagathbandhan (SP-BSP) will send six Muslim membes—two each from Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. S T Hasan (Moradabad), Shafique Barq (Sambhal) and Azam Khan (Rampur) will represent the Samajwadi Party whereas Kunwar Danish Ali (Amroha), Afzal Ansari (Ghazipur) and Haji Rehman (Saharanpur) will represent the BSP.

The maximum representation from the Muslim community will be from West Bengal with five of them coming from the TMC and one from the Congress.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen will send Imtiyaz Jaleel from Aurangabad along with its president Asaduddin Owaisi who won from Hyderabad.

The only seat in Kerala won by the Left will be represented by A M Ariff. Indian Union Muslim League registered a victory in two seats of Ponani and Malappuram being won by Mohammed Basheer and P K Kunhalikutty respectively.

National Conference has clean swept Kashmir winning all three seats. Farooq Abdullah, Mohammed Akbar Lone and Hanani Masoodi have won their respective constituencies.

The grand-old party Congress which was decimated to 52 seats in the Lok Sabha election has sent four Muslim members represented by Abdul Khaleque (Barpeta), Mohammed Jawed (Kishanganj), Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury (Maldah Dakshin) and Mohammed Sadique (Faridkot).

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analysis et al. Happy reading.