THIRD PART
Muslim voices in legislatures have seen a downward trend, even though the community is about 14.2 per cent of the county’s population
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – India has the world’s third-largest Muslim population. Muslims, constituting about 14.2 percent of the total population as per the last census held in 2011, have the worst representation in almost every socio-economic domain and the situation has gotten worse since the 1990s.
The political representation of the community is the worst. Out of the 4,123 legislative assembly seats across India, Muslim voters-dominated seats stand at 450. There are 65 seats across 12 states and two Union Territories that have over 25 percent Muslim population.
As many as 65 seats have over 25 percent of Muslim voters. Muslim votes decide the outcome in more than 100 assembly constituencies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous 29 districts are Muslim-majority districts with 137 assembly seats. In Madhya Pradesh, the Muslim vote factor is crucial in at least 22 seats. In Gujarat, 17 assembly seats have significant Muslim voters. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar but only 34 matters to Muslims.
In Jharkhand’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, Muslims matter in only eight unreserved seats. In Bihar, Kishanganj district tops the list with 68 per cent Muslims, Katihar has 43 per cent, Araria with 42 per cent, and Purnia with 38 per cent. Madhubani 26 per cent, Darbhanga 23 per cent, Sitamarhi 21 per cent, and West Champaran 21 per cent.
Life for the 200 million-strong community has remained in a whirlpool of front-paged discrimination in every socio-economic domain since the 1990s. No Muslim representation has existed in the Union government since July 2022, a first in history. Muslims, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), “face discrimination in employment and education and encounter barriers to achieving wealth and political power.”
Out of the total of 60,693 members of legislative assemblies (MLAs), Muslims account for only 3,198 seats, including 65 women. As for Members of the Lok Sabha (MPs) of 9,430, only 527 belonged to India’s largest minority community. Out of 2,176 Rajya Sabha members, 329 came from the Muslim community. Only 57 Muslims became governors out of the total 529 and four were made Lt. Governors and Administrators of Union Territories out of the total 153.
Out of the total 1,919 mayors across the cities, 80 belong to the Muslim community. Out of 539 chief ministers, 10 were Muslims while six of the 83 deputy chief ministers were Muslims.
Out of the total 13,951 district session judges across India, 721 were Muslims. Sixty-two of the 1,017 vice-chancellors of Central universities have been Muslims while 219 of 8,633 vice-chancellors of state universities were Muslims.
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Next Part: Minimal Muslim Representation in banking, financial sectors’ management
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