Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A sharp division of Muslim votes is believed to have cost the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) and All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) over three dozen Muslim-dominated seats as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti won 22 seats from these areas.
There are 38 seats in the state where Muslims are in a position of playing a decisive role making up over 20% of the total population. Apart from the MVA and Mahayuti, the Samajwadi Party won two seats while AIMIM secured only one seat.
Despite running a vitriolic communal campaign targeting Muslims, the winning of 22 seats by the Mahayuti among these Muslim-dominated constituencies has raised concerns over disunity among the Muslim electorate.
“The winning of more seats by the BJP alliance in these constituencies is due to the division of Muslim votes. The votes of Muslims were divided between two or more candidates. It should not have happened. A candidate should be preferred based on the winnability factor. But it becomes difficult to decide which one is in the winning position. Therefore, the votes got divided,” said Qasim Rasool Ilyas, spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), while talking to Clarion India.
Ilyas, former president of the Welfare Party of India (WPI), said the Muslim leadership should play a proactive role in stopping the division of votes. “But it should be done judiciously and not the way Islamic scholar Maulana Sajjad Naumani did during the assembly election. The BJP used the scholar’s statements to polarise the voters along communal lines,” he said.
Ilyas was alluding to senior BJP leader Dendra Fadnavis exploiting Maulana Naumani’s appeal to Muslims to vote for the MVA during his election speeches across the state.
In the 38 Muslim-dominated constituencies, the BJP has raised its tally to 14 from 11 in 2019 while the Congress went down from 11 seats to five. The BJP allies, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, won six and two seats respectively.
Congress got Mumbadevi, Akola West, Dharavi, Malad West, and Latur City while the BJP took Bhiwandi West, Aurangabad West, Andheri West, Akot, Vandre West, Solapur Central, Nagpur Central, Dhule, Sion Koliwada, Karanja, Pune Cantonment, Raver, Washim, and Malkapur.
The performance of the AIMIM is also disappointing as only one of its candidates, Mufti Ismail, could register a victory from Malegaon Central. Previously the party had two MLAs. The poor performance of the AIMIM also points to the damage done by the division of Muslim votes. The party has come second in four seats.
Reacting to the election results, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said: “To our candidates, party workers and supporters, I urge you all to not lose heart and work with renewed resolve. If anything, the election results show that the people are looking for a genuine political alternative and that Majlis has established itself in Maharashtra’s politics.”
In Aurangabad East, AIMIM state chief and former MP Imtiaz Jaleel lost to the BJP’s Atul Save by 2,161 votes. Afsar Khan of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) secured 6,507 votes and SP’s Abdul Gaffar Syed got 5,943 votes. This division ensured Jaleel’s defeat.
Similarly, in Bhiwandi West, BJP candidate Mahesh Chaugule defeated Riyaz Azmi of the SP by 31,293 votes as Muslims also divided their votes between AIMIM’s Waris Pathan (15,800 votes) and Independent Vilas Patil (31,579 votes).
Ilyas also criticised the secular parties for not including the AIMIM in their alliance by giving some seats to it.
“AIMIM is a factor in every election. What is the reason that INDIA bloc does not take the party along? They should convince the party to contest only a few seats. This will help stop splitting the Muslim votes,” he said.
