Marginal gain in number of Muslim MPs

The new Lok Sabha will have 26 Muslim MPs, three more than the 2014 figure, but the ruling NDA has just one member from the minority community.

BJP has not a single Muslim MP among its 303 lawmakers s though it fielded six candidates from the community while its ally LJP has managed to ensure the victory of its Muslim candidate Mehboob Ali Kaiser from Bihar's Khagaria.

Muslims constitute 13.4 per cent or 13.8 crore of 1.2 billion population in the country but the community has just 4.61% representation. A calculation showed that among the 185 Opposition MPs, the representation of 24 Muslim MPs among them correspond to their population percentage while NDA has just one.

At the same time, when it comes to women, the numbers are not at all encouraging for the community. Only two among 25 are women while it was four in the outgoing Lok Sabha.

While 2004 elections had 30 Muslim MPs while 2009 elections had 34 MPs. In 1984, there were many as 42 Muslim MPs.

Among the prominent Muslim MPs in the new Lok Sabha will be AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who won for the fourth time and will become the longest-serving Muslim candidate, and BSP's Danish Ali who won from Uttar Pradesh's Amroha. Owaisi's party colleague Imtiaz Jaleel Syed, a former journalist, also won from Maharashtra's Aurangabad.

The maximum number of Muslim MPs came from Uttar Pradesh, which had not sent a single MP from the minority community in 2014. However, UP got Muslim representation in the outgoing Lok Sabha when Tabassum Hassan won the bypolls last year taking the total to 24 in Lok Sabha.

UP is followed by West Bengal with five MPs from the minority community and Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala with three each MPs. Besides these, there are Muslim representation from Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, Lakshadweep and Maharashtra.

While there were Muslim representation from only six states and one Union Territory in 2014, it has increased to 10 states and one union territory this time.

Among the parties, Trinamool Congress has the highest number of five Muslim MPs followed by Congress with four and SP, BSP, Muslim League and National Conference with three each. AIMIM, LJP, NCP and CPI(M) have one each MPs from the minority community.