Bhakti Chalak/Pune

When the next Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is constituted, it will have ten Muslim members, including a woman. Though the population of Muslims in the state is 12 percent, their representation in the 288-member legislature has remained unchanged after the recent Assembly elections.

Though it is not a criterion, the representation of Muslims in the Assembly will be 3.47 percent and Muslims realize it is a long way for the community to see more members elected.

In the Assembly which will be constituted soon, MLAs like Farooq Shah, Jhishan Siddiqui, Nawab Malik of last time will be missed, while Sajid Khan, Haroon Khan, Sana Malik will be new Muslim faces in the House.

In 2019, 10 Muslim MLAs were victorious, including three from Congress, two each from the Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, and MIM and one from Shiv Sena. This time too, the people of Maharashtra have sent 10 Muslim MLAs to the Assembly.

This article lists Muslim MLAs and major factors in their victory:

Malegaon Central: Mufti Mohammed Ismail Abdul Khaliq

Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khaliq, of the AIMIM, has won from the Malegaon Central Assembly constituency. He defeated Asif Shaikh of the Indian Secular (Islam) by 162 votes. Mufti Ismail thus is the only AIMIM candidate to have won elections from Maharashtra.

In the 2019 elections too, AIMIM had won from the same constituency. At that time too, Mufti Ismail had defeated Asif Shaikh by about 38,000 votes. This time he scrapped through that too, as per analysts, may be due to the sympathy wave generated due to his deteriorating health close to the election.

He is otherwise a much-respected leader of Muslims due to his religious position as the Imam of Eidgah. He also took a stand against crime to strike a chord with voters.

Malad West: Aslam Shaikh

Congress retained the Malad West. The seat has been a Congress stronghold for 15 years. Congress candidate Aslam Shaikh defeated Vinod Shelar, brother of BJP leader Ashish Shelar, by a margin of only 6227 votes.

It’s a hat trick victory for Aslam Sheikh as he has been MLA from the constituency for three consecutive terms. In the 2014 Assembly elections, Shiv Sena and BJP contested separately, which weakened Shiv Sena's position and BJP's performance was also not good.

In 2019, despite Shiv Sena and BJP contesting jointly Aslam Shaikh won with a huge margin. His strong opposition to the BJP's decision to transfer residents of Dharavi to Malad also helped him gain support.

Bhiwandi East: Raees Sheikh

Samajwadi Party has won in Bhiwandi East Assembly constituency. This is a second consecutive victory for Raees Sheikh as he won by a margin of 52015 votes over his closest rival Santosh Shetty. Shetty left BJP to contest as Shiv Sena candidate from BJP.

The constituency witnessed triangular fights in earlier elections leading to low margins of victory. In 2014, Rupesh Mhatre defeated BJP candidate Santosh Shetty by 3393 votes;e in 2019, Raees Sheikh defeated Rupesh Mhatre of Shiv Sena by 1314 votes. Since that time, he has been dominating the constituency.

Akola West: Sajid Khan

Congress tightened its hold on the Akola West Assembly constituency, which till the election result was a BJP stronghold. From this constituency, Congress party's Sajid Khan won by 1283 votes. Sajid Khan got 88718 votes, while BJP's Vijay Agarwal got 87435 votes.

The constituency witnessed a tough fight between the BJP and Congress In earlier elections, Muslim votes got divided between Congress and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi giving an advantage to BJP. In 2019 also, This time the Vanchit candidate withdrew his name at the last moment.

About 41.6% of voters of this constituency are Muslims while 10% are Dalit and 2.42% tribals. Their unity seems to have seen Congress candidate win. Interestingly, BJP has been winning from this seat despite the vast Muslim population. Additionally, the BJP also faced an internal rift leading to the division of votes. Two prominent BJP leaders Harish Alimchandani and Dr. Ashok Olambe rebelled and it hurt BJP’s chances.

Sillod: Abdul Sattar

Shiv Sena's internal fight against Shiv Sena was seen in the Sillod assembly constituency. Minister Abdul Sattar maintained his support base as he won for the fourth consecutive time. He won by 2420 votes.

Abdul Sattar had contested elections twice on a Congress ticket in this area. In the 2014 assembly elections, he contested on a Congress ticket, and in 2019, he contested on a Shiv Sena ticket.

Due to the split in Shiv Sena and later in the Nationalist Congress, Sattar’s challenges were manifold. However, due to his influence on the Muslim community, he seems to have secured their 20 percent votes en mass and it helped him win the election.

Mankhurd Shivajinagar: Abu Azmi

Abu Azmi, a veteran leader won for the third time from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar constituency as candidate of the Samajwadi Party.  Azmi won by 12753 votes against Atiq Ahmed Khan of the MIM while his main challenger Nawab Malik of NCP was relegated to the fourth position.

Samajwadi Party has dominated this area since the beginning. In 2009, Abu Azmi defeated Syed Ahmed of Congress by 14117 votes. In the 2014 elections, there was a contest between Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena, and Abu Azmi won by 9937 votes. In 2019, he defeated Vitthal Lokare by 25613 votes.

This time Nawab Malik did not get any support from the BJP. Along with Malik, Shinde's Shiv Sena made Suresh Patil a candidate, which led to the division of votes in the Mahayuti. Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar has around 55% Muslim voters, followed by other voters. Thus, there was a tough fight between Marathi and Muslims, in which Abu Azmi won.

Kagal: Hasan Mushrif

In Kagal assembly constituency, Hasan Mushrif of the NCP won for the sixth time. He has won by 11,581 votes. Hasan Mushrif got 1,45,269 votes, while Samarjit Singh Ghatge of NCP Sharadchandra Pawar Party got 1,33,688 votes.

This time once again Mushrif received public support. His proximity to the common people, support of factories, worker network created in every village, political understanding, and experience of many elections, all these reasons kept the atmosphere in his favour till the end. He managed to convince voters of his credentials as a man of development.

Versova: Haroon Khan

This time a direct contest was seen in the Versova assembly constituency. In this, Haroon Khan of Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction won by 1,600 votes. Haroon Khan got 65,396 votes, while BJP candidate Bharti Lavhekar got 63,796 votes and faced defeat.

In the 2014 and 2019 elections, Bharti Lavhekar of BJP defeated the then MLA of Congress, Baldev Khosa.

Haroon Khan started his political journey with the BJP. Later leaving BJP, he contested the Mumbai Municipal Corporation election on Nationalist Congress Party ticket. Due to this, he has a wide public contact in Versova. He has always taken the initiative in solving many basic facilities in Versova, beautification of the ward, establishment of roads, drains, gymnasiums, libraries, and other regional issues. Apart from this, his wife Shahid Khan is also in active politics and she has been a corporator in this area. All these reasons made it possible for him to win the election.

Anushaktinagar : Sana Malik

NCP’s Sana Malik, a debutante candidate won from the Anushaktinagar assembly constituency. She enjoyed the advantage of being the daughter of Nawab Malik. She won by 3,378 votes over her Samajwadi party rival Fahad Ahmed.

In the 2009 elections, Nawab Malik was elected from the constituency. In the 2014 assembly elections, Tukaram Kate of Shiv Sena defeated the NCP from Anushaktinagar.

However, in the 2019 elections, Nawab Malik managed to win his seat again. Sana Malik’s entry is important for the NCP as it shows the continuity of legacy and support base.

Mumbadevi: Amin Patel

Congress Party's Amin Patel has won for the fourth time in Mumbadevi. He was pitted against Shiv Sena's Shaina N.C. Amin Patel won by 34,844 votes.The Mumbadevi assembly seat with 55 percent Muslims was held by the BJP till 2009. In the 2019 elections, Amin Patel defeated Shiv Sena's Pandurang Sankpal by 23,674 votes. This seat has been a stronghold of Congress for 20 years.

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Patel has worked for the constituency and his support has only increased over the years.