Resentment is brewing among Muslim leaders against the Congress and the NCP over being “slighted” while allotting tickets for the Assembly elections. The list of 174 candidates released by the Congress has 12 Muslim names while the NCP’s list of 113 candidates has four Muslims.

“We feel that both the parties have taken the community for granted,” MLC Muzaffar Hussein said. “The share of the community is not in proportion to its share of votes for the two parties. Muslims don’t vote for the Shiv Sena or the BJP. According to 2001 census, the state has 1.1 crore Muslim voters. Considering that 50 per cent of them vote, around 55 lakh votes go to the Congress and the NCP.”

Hussein said the state has 48 Assembly constituencies with “significant” Muslim votes but the two parties have not allotted a fair share of seats to the community. “There were just two ministers — Anees Ahmed and Hasan Mushrief-in the council of ministers till three months ago when two more-Arif Naseem Khan and Nawab Malik-were inducted,” he said. “Unfortunately the community is not united to seek justice.”

A senior Congress leader admitted that nominating fewer Muslim candidates might result in a significant chunk of Muslim votes going to parties like the Samajwadi Party. He said efforts were being made to tell the community that they had “more options than just the Congress and the NCP”. There is also resentment over north-Indian Muslims becoming more powerful in the party.

The Vice-President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Hussein Dalwai, who was denied a ticket, said, “We were hoping the party would give proportional representation to Muslims but it has not happened. Even region-wise, there is no balanced representation, we have not fielded any candidate of the minority community from Vidarbha, north Maharashtra and Konkan regions. But it is the party’s decision.”

... contd.