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Journalism of Courage
In what is being read as a positive signal by the BJP, 61 of the 391 Muslim candidates fielded by it have won in the state urban local body (ULB) elections. These include five elected as chairpersons of Nagar Panchayats, two as corporators and the rest 54 as members of different Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats.
Out of its 391 Muslim candidates, the BJP had fielded 351 as corporators as well as Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat members, 35 as chairpersons in Nagar Panchayats, besides the five as chairpersons in Nagar Palika Parishads. It was the highest number of Muslim candidates fielded by the BJP in ULB polls in the state.
According to a party leader, over 90% of these candidates were Pasmanda. The BJP fielded Muslim nominees in Muslim-dominated seats, with none nominated for on mayoral seats.
The winners from the BJP include Farkhanda Jabin, who defeated the Samajwadi Party’s Mohsina by 3,902 votes on the OBC women’s reserved seat of Bhoj Dharampur in Moradabad district. In OBC-reserved Dhauratanda seat of Bareilly district, the BJP’s Nadeem Ul Hasan defeated the SP’s Waqueel Ahmed by less than a 1,000 votes. An AIMIM candidate was also in the fray from the seat, apart from 13 other Muslim candidates.
In the Gopamu seat in Hardoi district, the BJP’s Wali Mohammad defeated Independent Naushad in a head-to-head contest.
The BJP’s Kauser Abbas beat the BSP’s Waseem by a narrow 185 votes in Sirsi of Sambhal. In this Muslim-dominated constituency, Muslim votes were spread among 13 different candidates. While the BJP nominee got 3,272 votes, the BSP’s contestant got 3,087. The Congress’s Hasan Arif got 3,077, while the SP’s Musahib Hussain Naqvi ended with 2,794 votes.
In Sultanpur Chilkana Nagar Panchayat seat under Saharanpur district, the BJP’s Phoolbano Ansari was elected the chairperson, defeating the BSP’s Akbar by 1,246 votes in a straight contest.
BJP Muslim candidates secured second position in Siwalkhas of Meerut district, Rataul of Baghpat district, Sakhanu of Badaun and Kaimri of Rampur district.
Muslim candidates of the party lost in five Nagar Palika Parishads, including Rampur and Tanda in Rampur district, Kakrala in Badaun, Mubarakpur in Azamgarh and Afzalgarh in Bijnor. However, while finishing runner-up in Rampur, the BJP candidate secured a high 33% votes, just as its candidate in Afzalgarh, who got 37% votes.
In Suar Nagar Panchayat of Rampur district, Apna Dal (Sonelal) candidate Reshma Parveen won the election by getting 40% votes. Apna Dal (S) is an ally of the BJP in the NDA. The SP and the BSP did not contest.
In 2017, the BJP had fielded one Muslim candidate as chairperson of the Nagar Palika of Afzalgarh in Bijnor district. The nominee, Saleem Ahmed, had won by securing 31% votes. In 2023, the BJP nominee for chairperson of Afzalgarh Nagar Palika, Khadeeza Khatoon, finished second with 37.46% votes.
Also in 2017, while the BJP had given tickets to Muslims on a few seats for corportors and Nagar Palika Parishad members, there were several seats where it could not find a candidate to contest, because of the dominance of Muslim voters, said a party leader. In contrast, this year, both of the BJP’s Muslim candidates won in municipal corporation elections — Lubana Ali Khan from Hussainabad ward in Lucknow (47% votes) and Haquiqun Nishan from Baba Gambhirnath ward in Gorakhpur (38% votes).
“By fielding 391 Muslim candidates in the civic polls, the BJP has tested the support and inclination of Muslims towards the party before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and received a good response,” said a BJP leader.
BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a commitment to take everyone along. Hence, benefits of all government schemes are being provided transparently to every one, without any discrimination. The trust of Muslims in Modi ji has increased, and all sections are voting for the BJP.”
Chaudhary pointed out that in Suar, where the BJP-Apna Dal (S) alliance won, 90% voters are Muslims.
“The SP, BSP and the Congress had created a sense of fear among Muslims about the BJP for a long time. But Muslims have come out of that, and their trust in the BJP is increasing. In comparison to past polls, more Muslim candidates had demanded BJP tickets in recent elections,” said Kunwar Basit Ali, the UP state president of the BJP’s Minority Morcha. He added that various campaigns by the Morcha had helped win the trust of Muslims, adding that in 2017, there were 44,000 Muslim-dominated booths where the BJP could not field its booth committees. But by the time of the 2023 polls, it had managed to constitute committees in 25,000 of these booths.
