By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh maintained status quo in its Muslim representation as again only one Muslim got elected to the state Assembly.
Senior Congress leader and four times MLA from Bhopal North Arif Aqeel once again emerged as the lone Muslim elected to the assembly, after a tough fight with lone BJP Muslim candidate in the state Arif Baig. Arif Aqeel got 73,070 votes while BJP Muslim candidate pulled 66,406 votes.
Four other Muslim candidates of the Congress party gave notable fights but at the end lost to their BJP rivals.
Fight from Bhopal Madhya (Central) was the most fascinating where Arif Masood of Congress seemed victor in the beginning as leading with almost 20,000 margin, till evening fight got closer even coming to an extent of 300 votes difference. But at the end Arif Masood lost to Surendranath Singh of BJP with nearly 7,000 margin. Arif Masood got 63715 votes while BJP winner pulled 70,696 votes.
The other three constituencies where Congress Muslim candidates contested were Rewa, Mudwara, and Joura where their performancs were disappointing.
In Rewa Dr. Mujeeb Khan came third even trailing behind BSP by almost 3,400 votes. He was able to get only 20,600 votes while BJP’s winner Rajendra Shukla got 61,502 votes.
In Mudwara Feroz Ahmed lost by a margin of almost 47,000 votes against his direct rival Shriprasad Jaiswal of BJP. In Jaora situation was same grim for another Congress candidate Kadapa Yousuf who again lost by 40,000 votes margin against Rajendra Pandey of BJP.
Narela with 40% Muslim voters in Bhopal city also saw an amazing fight, with sitting MLA Vishwas Sarang getting 98,472 votes while Congress candidate Sunil Sood facing defeat by getting 71,502 votes. Mohd Atik of BSP got third spot with 1971 votes.
Burhanpur, a traditional Muslim seat, used to be represented by Hamid Kazi of Nationalist Congress Party till his death in 2003. Today it went to Archana Chittni of BJP who won by over 20,000 margin against her closest Congress rival Raghuvanshi. NCP’s Qazi Fariduddin trailed on third spot with just 2,053 votes.
Social Democratic Party of India contested on four constituencies in the state to mark its presence, in Indore 5 party got 1335 votes, lost third spot to BSP with just 30 votes. In Sheopur party got 1266 votes lost fourth spot to NCP with just 100 votes. In Khategoan 914 votes with fifth spot, and in Gwalior south 350 votes for 8th spot.
In Madhya Pradesh Muslims are 6.5% of state population, in past there used to be 12 sitting Muslim MLAs from the state. But since past one decade it has become difficult for a Muslim to win outside old city of Bhopal.
Related:
Battle of honour: Sangh Parivar Vs Arif Aqeel in Bhopal North
Arif Baig: BJP’s lone hope to cut into Muslim vote bank of MP
Arif Masood: a ‘Muslim neta’ riding against all odds in MP
Narela constituency illustrates political trauma of Muslims in MP