Kolkata : While the number of Muslim members in the 16th Lok Sabha at 23 will be the lowest after 1952, West Bengal leads the country in this respect with as many as eight elected from the community.
The 16th Lok Sabha with 23 Muslim members has seven less than the outgoing house — but West Bengal has increased its tally by one.
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has the most number of Muslims MPs at four, followed by the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) with two each.
Of the four Trinamool members from the community, Arambagh MP Aparupa Poddar accepted Islam after her marriage and is now known as Afreen Ali but her name is yet to be changed in government documents.
The other Trinamool members are Idris Ali (Basirhat), Sultan Ahmed (Uluberia) and Mumtaz Sanghamita (Burdwan-Durgapur).
The CPI-M members are Badaruddoza Khan (Murshidabad) and Mohammad Salim (Raiganj) while the two Congress members are Mausam Noor (Maldaha Uttar) and Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury (Maldaha Dakshin).