Indian Muslims Representation In 16th Lok Sabha, Lowest Since 1952: Report

New Delhi, May 18, IRNA - The representation of Muslims in the 16th Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) will be the lowest since the first general election of 1952. Muslims constituted 4.3 per cent of the first Lok Sabha in 1952, but their proportion has hovered between five and six per cent for the last quarter of a century after dropping from a high of 9.3 per cent or 49 members in the LS elected in the 1980 elections. The 16th Lok Sabha will have one of the lowest numbers of Muslim MPs with just about 20 of them emerging victorious in the Lok Sabha polls which saw a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) surge in the whole north and western parts of India. Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 seats, has not sent any Muslim candidate in the just concluded election. An analysis of the results shows that there are about 20 winners who are from the Muslim community in the 543-member House while BJP does not have a single MP belonging the community. The incoming House will have no Muslim MPs from Uttar Pradesh. It will also not have any from Maharashtra, a large state with a substantial Muslim population. The only states to have elected MPs from the community are West Bengal (eight), Jammu and Kashmir (four), Bihar (four), Kerala (three), Assam (two) and Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep (one each). Of these, of course J&K as well as Lakshadweep have Muslim-majority populations. Registering their best-ever showing, BJP has won 282 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, becoming the first party after 1984 election to have majority in the Lower House. Its leader Narendra Modi would be taking over as the Prime Minister soon. According to Indian Government the total percentage of Muslims in India is between 15 per cent to 17 per cent. Since the independence of India in 1947 the percentage of Muslim in government census has remained same, i.e. 12 per cent or less. The overall percentage of Muslims in bureaucracy in India is just 2.5 per cent whereas Muslims constitute above 14 per cent of Indian population./end