By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: Five sitting Muslim MLAs including two Muslim female MLAs will be defending their seats in the second phase of UP election on February 11. Among the 100 Muslim candidates in second phase, the fate of Peace Party’s chief Dr Ayub and his son Er. Mohd Irfan along with mafiosi turned politicos Mukhtar Ansari will also be decided by the voters.
Other fringe parties as Rashtriya Ulema Council (RUC), Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party of OP Rajbhar, Qaumi Ekta Dal, left parties will also face the litmus test in the second phase. The phase includes nine districts namely Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur in four divisions comprising 59 seats with 12 reserved for Scheduled Castes.
In the second phase, Samajwadi Party has fielded eight Muslim candidates, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has given tickets to six Muslim candidates
and Congress has fielded four Muslim candidates.
Five sitting muslim MLAs are again in the fray which includes two females. MLA Choudhary Fasiha Bashir alias Ghazala Lari will contest from newly carved Rampur Karkhana seat in Deoria on SP ticket. MLA Shadab Fatima will contest from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district on SP ticket. Other Muslim MLAs include Mukhtar Ansari who is contesting from two seats Mau and Ghosi on his own outfit Qaumi Ekta Dal. At Mau he is being challenged by eight other muslim candidates with the main being Abubaker of Congress and Altaf Ahmed of SP. Mau is the only constituency where maximum nine candidates have filed their nominations. Mukhtar’s brother Sibghatullah Ansari will be contesting from Mahmoodabad. Both the brothers had won their seats in 2007. Abdul Kalam another MLA from Mehdawal is this time contesting from Khalilabad seat on SP ticket.
Former minister Shakir Ali is also contesting from Pathardeva seat in Deoria against Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) state chief Surya Pratap Shahi. The other female Muslim candidate include Talat Aziz from Paniyara in Gorakhpur pitted against former forest minister and BSP discard Fateh Bahadur Singh of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). She is being challenged by four other muslim candidates one of them from Rashtriya Lokmanch being a female named Guddi.
All eyes will be on Peace Party’s chief Dr Ayub Ansari who is contesting from Khalilabad seat. Five other muslim candidates Abdul Kalam of SP, Mashhoor Alam of BSP, Shabbir Hussain of NCP, Mohd Haroon from All India Minorities Front and Esrar as independent are contesting against him. Dr Ayub’s son Er. Mohammad Irfan is also contesting from Mubarakpur seat in Azamgarh. BSP has also fielded a muslim Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali and Congress has given ticket to Abdus Salam while two other muslim candidates are also contesting from Mubarakpur. Peace Party has been in news after it polled considerable votes in Dumariyaganj by-polls much ahead of SP and Congress.
Another seat Gorakhpur (rural) also has six muslim candidates with SP fielding Zafar Amin Dakku. In the second phase, Mohd Athar of Congress
is the lone muslim candidate from a major party contesting from Didarganj in Azamgarh.
The status of Rashtriya Ulema Council (RUC), an Azamgarh based outfit formed in wake of Batla House encounter in 2008 will also be tested in the second phase. Its general secretary Maulana Tahir Madani is contesting form Nizamabad seat in Azamgarh. RUCs area of influence
Azamgarh is the second phase.
The claim of left parties will also face litmus test as Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded four muslim candidates and CPI (ML) has fielded one candidate in the second phase. Even Janta Dal (U) has given ticket to one Kasim Ali from Tamkuhi Raj in Kushinagar district.