By Shafeeq Rahman,
Underrepresentation of Muslim in various segments of government bodies including the legislation is a common debatable issue across the country. Political representation gets more attraction on the eve of election at national or state level. Legitimate representation for Muslim in parliament is 73 according to their population – 13% in total population – but such ideal representation has never been achieved. Best representation was in 1980 election when 49 Muslim members – 9.3% in total 542 seats – elected in parliament. In the sixteenth Lok Sabha 2014, it reached to the historical lowest level with only 23 members – 4.2% in total 543 members. Similar position exists at state assemblies and local bodies.
Delhi election is going to be held on 7th February 2015 and will have a larger impact on future politics of the country. Muslim in Delhi constitutes 12% of total state population, their legitimate representation according to population ratio is 8 seats in assembly but it was restricted to five Muslim representatives in last two elections. There are around 10 assembly constituencies in Delhi which have more than 20% Muslim oncentration while Seelampur, Matia Mahal, Okhla and Ballimaran have around or more than 50% Muslim in total population. Result of the last two assembly elections in these 10 seats are shown in the table given below:
Winner, Runner and Winning Margin in Muslim Concentrated Constituencies (Above 20%) in Delhi (Assembly Election 2008 & 2013)
AC Name
Year
Winner
Winner Candidate Name
Winner Votes
Winner Votes %
Runner
Runner Candidate Name
Runner Vote
Runner Vote %
Margin of votes
Seelampur
2008
INC
Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad
47820
54.65
BJP
Sita Ram Gupta
21546
24.62
26274
2013
INC
Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad
46452
46.52
BJP
Kaushal Kumar Mishra
24724
24.76
21728
Matia Mahal
2008
LJP
Shoaib Iqbal
25474
39.56
INC
Mehmood Zia
17870
27.75
7604
2013
JD(U)
Shoaib Iqbal
22732
31.72
INC
Mirza Javed Ali
19841
27.68
2891
Okhla
2008
INC
Parvez Hashmi
29303
28.53
RJD
Asif Mohd.Khan
28762
28.00
541
2013
INC
Asif Mohd Khan
50004
36.34
AAP
Irfanullah Khan
23459
17.05
26545
Ballimaran
2008
INC
Haroon Yasuf
34660
42.08
BJP
Moti Lal Sodhi
28423
34.51
6237
2013
INC
Haroon Yusuf
32105
36.18
BJP
Moti Lal Sodhi
24012
27.06
8093
Babarpur
2008
BJP
Naresh Gaur
31954
35.1
BSP
Hazi Dilshad Ali
28128
30.90
3826
2013
BJP
Naresh Gaur
34180
29.73
INC
Zakir Khan
29673
25.81
4507
Mustafabad
2008
INC
Hasan Ahmed
39838
40.7
BJP
Yogender Kumar Sharma
38859
39.69
979
2013
INC
Hasan Ahmed
56250
38.24
BJP
Jagdish Pradhan
54354
36.95
1896
Chandni Chowk
2008
INC
Parlad Singh Sawhney
28207
45.61
BJP
Praveen Khandelwal
20188
32.64
8019
2013
INC
Parlad Singh Sawhney
26335
37.77
BJP
Suman Kumar Gupta
18092
25.95
8243
Seemapuri (SC)
2008
INC
Veer Singh Dhingan
43864
49.13
BJP
Chandra Pal Singh
24604
27.56
19260
2013
AAP
Dharmender Singh
43199
37.76
INC
Veer Singh Dhingan
31223
27.29
11976
Sangam Vihar
2008
BJP
Dr. S.C.L.Gupta
20332
27.37
INC
Amod Kumar Kanth
16743
22.54
3589
2013
AAP
Dinesh Mohaniya
24851
27.87
BJP
Shiv Charan Lal Gupta
24074
27.00
777
Gandhi Nagar
2008
INC
Arvinder Singh Lovely
59795
64.25
BJP
Kamal Kumar Jain
27870
29.94
31925
2013
INC
Arvinder Singh Lovely
48897
48.47
BJP
Ramesh Chand Jain
31936
31.66
16961
Representation links with the level of seriousness in participation of electioneering process. Muslim concentrated areas generally witnessed the below average polling percentage. Besides the numeric representation, improved turnout would be helpful in electing of qualitative representation among the community or outside of community. A non-community member could be true representative if taking the part in resolving the community problem while a Muslim is not true representative if not serious about his constituency.
With the analysis of these ten Muslim concentrated constituencies in Delhi, it is also clear that polling percentage in most of constituencies is below or close to the state average. Okhla, largely Muslim concentrated and an area widely known for the offices of Muslim organizations, accounted the lowest polling percentage in the last two elections. While the number of contesting candidates and parties are always above the state average in these ACs.
To evaluate the polling percentage trend during the last two elections in the constituencies having substantial Muslim population (around 20% or above in total population of an AC) in Delhi, the given table is generated to show the difference from average poll percentage of state and ratio on number of candidates contesting the elections:
Polling Percentage in Muslim Concentrated Constituencies (Above 20%) in Delhi (Assembly Election 2008 & 2013 and Parliamentary Election 2014)
AC
Year
electoral
voters
poll%
candidates
Chandni Chowk
2008
107953
61845
57.29
16
2013
106559
69771
65.48
14
2014
110878
72202
65.12
Matia Mahal
2008
114178
64390
56.39
19
2013
109130
71780
65.77
19
2014
112911
74241
65.75
Ballimaran
2008
138182
82365
59.61
13
2013
131574
88771
67.47
17
2014
137086
88738
64.73
Sangam Vihar
2008
144463
74289
51.42
16
2013
137295
89167
64.95
17
2014
149943
96084
64.08
Okhla
2008
209643
102731
49.00
19
2013
235966
137632
58.33
18
2014
256737
145864
56.81
Gandhi Nagar
2008
146577
93078
63.50
9
2013
153167
100883
65.86
13
2014
162055
104324
64.38
Seemapuri
2008
143184
89309
62.37
12
2013
157639
114486
72.63
11
2014
165496
118846
71.81
Seelam Pur
2008
147481
87499
59.33
15
2013
145781
99864
68.50
8
2014
149244
101493
68.00
Babarpur
2008
152258
91057
59.80
13
2013
174496
114978
65.89
11
2014
182022
115603
63.51
Mustafabad
2008
168508
97901
58.10
17
2013
204982
147097
71.76
13
2014
218659
146337
66.92
State Average
2008
57.60
12
2013
66.02
12
2014
65.00
This table clearly indicates that poll percentage in most of constituencies is below or close to the average which is a reason for low and inadequate representation. For the sake of ideal and qualitative representation, Muslim should participate in electioneering process without keeping any negative approach. A successful ideal democracy depends upon the inclusiveness of all sections of society in governance.
—
Shafeeq Rahman, Ph.D. is a Delhi based researcher. He can be contacted at
[email protected] .
