By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Bengaluru: The results of Karnataka assembly from Muslim political perspective spring up lot of surprises, 11 Muslims got elected to the assembly out of which 9 are from Indian National Congress and 2 from Janta Dal(secular). It’s an increase of three members if compared to last Assembly elections. Out of 11 elected Muslims MLA’s 7 are siting members of the previous Assembly.
The elected Muslim representatives are:
1) Feroz Nooruddin Saith of INC retained his seat Belgaum Uttar, won with a margin of 18,210 votes, and pulled almost 45,125 votes.
2) Zameer Ahmed Khan of JDS retained his seat Chamrajpet, won with a margin of 30,162 votes, pulled 56,339 votes.
3) Iqbal Ansari of JDS defeated BJP siting MLA P. Eshwarapa with a margin of 30,000 votes from Gangawati, and pulled in 60,303 votes. Interestingly Gangawati has just 15% Muslim population, this shows even Hindus in large numbers voted for Iqbal Ansari.
4) Qamar-ul-Islam of INC retained Gulbarga Uttar by defeating his closest rival Nasir Hussain Ustad of Karnataka Janta Paksha (KJP) with a margin of 20,121 votes. Islam got 50,498 votes.
5) Maqbool S. Bagawan of INC won from Bijapur city by defeating siting BJP MLA with a margin of 9,200 votes, he got total of 48,615 votes. Bijapur has 47.3% Muslim population, it slipped into BJP’s hand in 2007 due to the division of Muslim votes.
6) U.T. Khader of INC retained Mangalore constituency by defeating his nearest BJP rival with a margin of 29,111 votes, Khader polled total of 69450 votes.
7) B.A. Mohiuddin Bava of INC retained Mangalore North in a close fight with BJP candidate Krsihna J. Palamer. He defeated Palamer with a margin of just 5373 votes, and pulled 69,897 votes.
8) Tanveer Sait of INC retained his family bastion of Narsimharaja constituency in a close fight with SDPI state president Abdul Majid. Four-time MLA Tanveer defeated debutant Majid with a margin of 8,370 votes and polled 38037 votes in his end.
9) N.A. Harris of INC retained his seat ShantiNagar by defeating JDS candidate Vasu Murthy with a margin of 20,187 votes. Interestingly, ShantiNagar have just 15% Muslim population and Harris attracted total 54,342 votes.
10) Congress party veteran R. Roshan Baig retained his citadel ShivajiNagar the Muslim dominated commercial center, from where he defeated BJP’s Nirmal Surana with a margin of 20,855 votes and gathered 49,649 votes.
11) Dr. Rafeeq Ahmed of INC won Tumkur city with a tough fight with KJP. Tumkur city with a Muslim population of 26.7% was earlier under BJP control, Rafeeq won with a margin of 3,608 votes against KJP candidate Jyothi Ganesh, Rafeeq polled 43,681 votes.
Muslim candidates who finished second in this close fought race are:
1) Enayatullah Shahbandri of JDS faced defeat by 9,884 votes in coastal town of Bhatkal by Subba Vaidiya an Independent candidate, Shahbandri got total 27,435 votes.
2) K.S. Safiullah of JDS tasted a disastrous defeat by losing with a margin of 40,158 votes in Davanegere South against Shivasahankarappa of Congress, Safiullah got total 26,162 votes.
3) Perhaps grandfather political legacy didn’t work out well for Rehman Shariff, grandson of former Union Railway minister and four-time Parliamentarian C.K. Jaffer Shariff. Rehman Shariff lost Hebbal constituency against Jagdeesh Kumar of BJP with a margin of just 5136 votes. Junior Shariff got 33,026 votes.
4) From the point of view of Muslim politics this was the most interesting match of this election season. SDPI state president Abdul Majid gave trouble to Tanveer Sait in his family bastion of Narsimharaja. Four-time MLA Tanveer Sait got tough fight as debutant Abdul Majeed surprisingly pulled 29,667 votes but still lost with a margin of just 8,370 votes. SDPI’s Abdul Majeed came second, leaving behind third and fourth slot for JDS and BJP.
5) It was shocker from Raichur when sitting Congress MLA Syed Yasin, who is son in law of former union railway minister Jaffer Shariff, lost the race against Shivaraj Patil of JDS with a margin of 7,871 votes. Yasin polled 37,392 votes.
6) BJP was successful in retaining 30% Muslim populated Shiggaon constituency when Basvaraj Bomai defeated Congress candidate Khadri Syed Azempeer with a margin of 9,503 votes. Kahdri Syed finished second polling 63,504 votes.
7) Abdul Wahab of Congress party lost Vijayanagara against BJP’s Anand Singh with a heavy margin of 30,637 votes. Abdul Wahab got 39,358 votes.
8) Another shock was Bidar where sitting Congress MLA Raheem Khan lost his seat with a margin of just 2,571 votes against G. Nagamarpalli of KJP. Raheem khan scored 48,147 votes. Bidar have 30% Muslim electorates.
9) Naseemuddin Patel of JDS finished second in Homnabad against R.B. Patil of Congress party, Naseenuddin tasted defeat by a margin of 24,307 votes, and he polled 40194 votes. Homnabad have 33% Muslim electorates.
10) For Rafique Khanapuri his surname and Congress party’s tag didn’t help him well in sweeping Khanapur where he lost with a margin of 16,152 votes against A.C. Patil an Independent candidate. Rafique got overall 20,903 votes.
Here are Muslim candidates including some prominent and promising faces who finished third in this mad race of head counts:
1) K.S. Samiullah of JDS finished in third place at Jayanagar constituency getting 12,097 votes, this seat is won by BJP.
2) Businessman turned politician Naseer Ahmed should have stick to his Congress MLC post, an ambitious politician Naseer Ahmed resigned his MLC post to contest from Kolar on Congress party ticket but finished in third place getting 41,510 votes. An Independent candidate V. Prakash won the race, Kolar have 36.2% Muslim population, and it was won by BJP in 2007.
3) Mukarram Khan of JDS finished third in Sedam by getting 27,047 votes.
4) Abdul Nabi of JDS got 23,977 votes in Yadgir and finished third.
5) Former Union Aviation Minister and Congress party chief election strategist C.M. Ibrahim lost from Bhadravati constituency and got only 22,329 votes against 78,370 votes of JDS candidate Appaji. He could not even get 2nd position as it was bagged by an Independent candidate Sangameshwara with 34,271 votes. C.M. Ibrahim who was earlier in JDU was considered by many as de facto Prime minister during the reign of Deve Gowda. Ratan Tata recently accused C.M. Ibrahim for asking bribes during his tenure as aviation minister.
6) Abdul Manan was the lone Bahujan Samaj Party candidate in Karnataka who made a good performance, but still achieved third place in Bidar South by getting 16,015 votes.
7) Ismail Tamatgar of Congress party missed second position in Hubli-Dharwad west by just five hundred votes, he got 30,312 votes and finished third.
8) Bangalore police officer turned politician and former JDS MLC Abdul Azeem couldn’t stand on his tall claims, and finished third in Hebbal by getting 25,073 votes. He became the biggest factor for the loss of Congress candidate Rehman Shariff due to minority vote divide. Hebbal went to BJP.
SDPI alone got four Muslim candidates (all of them debutants) who finished third in electoral race, in all four segments ahead of JDS and KJP
9) Dr. Mehboob Shariff of SDPI got 11,196 votes and finished third at Sarvagnanagar constituency which has 40% Muslim population. Joseph George of Congress party won the seat by getting 69,673 votes.
10) Advocate Abdul Majid of SDPI got 6,113 votes but was able to finish third at Bantval constituency, leaving behind JDS and KJP.
11) M.A. Hussain SDPI candidate from Mangalore got 4,808 votes and got third slot.
12) Aboobakkar SDPI candidate from Mangalore north got 3,323 votes and finished third.
Link:
Karnataka 2013 election: TCN coverage.