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Journalism of Courage
In a departure from past trends of consolidating behind a single party against the BJP, Muslim voters in the Uttar Pradesh urban local body (ULB) polls appear to have cast votes for candidates of their choice, including those from smaller parties. In several seats, Muslims ignored the candidates of their community from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) and voted for Independents, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and even the BJP.
Another aspect of this voting trend is that Muslims did not vote en block against the ruling BJP — a relief for the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and validation of its various outreach programmes for the minority community — in a state where the SP and the BSP are often seen as their default choice at the ballot box.
In mayoral elections, the AIMIM’s Anas got 1.28 lakh votes in Meerut to finish second. At one time during the counting on Saturday, Anas even led though he was eventually defeated by the BJP by over 1 lakh votes. The SP’s Seema Pradhan finished third with 1.28 lakh votes. Hasmat of the BSP finished fourth with 54,076 votes and Naseem Qureshi of Congress got only 15,473 votes. The BSP had fielded the maximum number of Muslim candidates (11) in the mayoral polls.
“The Samajwadi Party which had always been labelling the AIMIM as the BJP’s B team is, in fact, playing the second fiddle to the lotus party and it was because of the SP that our candidates could not defeat their BJP counterparts at a majority of seats,” said Anas.
In Moradabad, the BJP’s Vinod Agrawal defeated the Congress’s Mohammad Rizwan by around 4,000 votes. The Muslim votes appeared to have been spread over several Opposition candidates, with the AIMIM’s Mustujab Ahmed receiving 6,215 votes, more than the victory margin. The BSP’s Mohd Yameen finished third with 15,858 votes and the SP’s Saiyyad Raisuddin came fourth position with 13,447 votes.
In Muslim-dominated Saharanpur, the BJP’s Ajay Kumar became Mayor by defeating the BSP’s Khadija Masood by nearly 8,000 votes. Masood got 1.46 lakh votes. The SP’s Noor Hasan got 22,038 votes. The BJP’s Umesh Gautam won in Bareilly for the second time in a row, defeating an Independent candidate I S Tomar, with the BSP’s Yusuf Khan getting 16,874 votes and AIMIM’s Mohd Sartaj 10,356 votes.
In the OBC women-reserved Firozabad, the BJP’s Kamini Rathore defeated the SP’s Mashrur Fatima by over 27,000 votes. However, the BSP’s Rukhsana Begum got 52,695 votes, which is much more than the victory margin. In Prayagraj, BSP’s Saeed Ahmed finished fourth with 36,799 votes, with Muslim votes divided among AIMIM’s Mohd Naki Khan (24,023 votes) and AAP’s Mohd Kadir (14,253 votes).
In Ghaziabad, reserved for women, the BSP’s Nisara Khan got 63,249 votes while AIMIM’s Shanaz Dilshad got 26,045 votes, with the Yadav candidate of the SP getting 57,608 votes. In Kanpur Nagar, which is also reserved for women, the BJP’s Pramila Pandey — a Brahmin — defeated the Brahmin candidates of the SP and the Congress. But the AIMIM’s Shahna Parveen made her presence felt, getting 16,372 votes. The AAP’s Isma Zaheer too got 9,839 votes. The BJP’s Brahmin candidate in Ayodhya defeated SP’s Brahmin nominee by a margin of 35,638 votes. But the AIMIM’s Rehan got 15,107 votes, which was more than the BSP’s 12,852 votes.
Muslim votes appeared divided in Aligarh too, where SP’s Zameerullah Khan finished second with 1.32 lakh votes. The BSP’s Salman Shahid with 49,762 votes stood third. The AIMIM’s Gurfan Noor got 7,712 votes here. BJP’s Prashant Singhal won by over 61,000 votes.
In Lucknow, the BSP’s Shaheen Bano was the only Muslim candidate. She got 75,997 votes, which was lower than the votes the Hindu candidates of the SP and the Congress got here. In OBC women-reserved Shahjahanpur, where the mayoral election was conducted for the first time, the Congress’s Nikhat Iqbal finished second with 50,484 votes. The BSP’s Shagufta Anjum got only 5,545 votes to finish fourth. The BJP’s Archana Singh won by 30,278 votes.
Muslim candidates of the AIMIM and the AAP also polled more votes than Muslim candidates of the SP and the BSP in the contests for Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat chairperson. In the Sambhal Nagar Palika Parishad, the AIMIM’s Ashia won by getting 40,425 votes. The BSP’s Azma Tashqueel got only 10,175 votes and the SP’s Rukhsana Iqbal got 7,662 votes. In the Sikandrarao seat in Hathras district, the AIMIM’s Mohd Musheer won by getting 9,144 votes and the SP’s Fanoos Begum finished third by getting only 3,745 votes.
In the Kundarki Nagar Panchayat chairperson seat, the AIMIM’s Zeenat won with 5,015 votes. The AAP’s Naseema was runner-up with 3,768 votes and the Congress’s Saira Bano got 3,072 votes.
Muslim votes also get divided in Thiriya Nizawat Khan Nagar panchayat, where the AIMIM’s Imran Ali Khan won by getting 2,993 votes, whereas the BSP’s Naushad Ali Khan got 2,417 votes and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)’s Kismat Ali got 2,281 votes.
The AAP’s Sana Khanam won the chairperson’s seat in Rampur Nagar Palika, an SP bastion, by getting 43,121 votes. The BJP’s Mussarat Mujeeb was runner-up with 32,173 votes and the SP’s Fatma got 16,273 votes. The Congress’s Seema Rauf got 1,890 and the BSP’s Rafia got 965 votes.
The AAP’s Muslim candidates also defeated candidates of the SP, the BSP and the Congress in Nagar Panchayats of Shahpur (Muzaffarnagar), Pakbada (Moradabad), Zoya (Amroha) and Kaimri (Rampur).
The BJP had fielded Muslim candidates in chairperson’s seats for the first time and all of its five nominees won from Gopamau (Hardoi), Sultanpur Chillkana (Saharanpur), Sirisi (Sambhal), Dhauratanda (Bareilly), and Bhojpur Dharmpur (Moradabad). In Sirsi, the BSP’s Kausar Abbas defeated 12 other Muslim candidates of the SP, the BSP, the Congress, the RLD, and Independents. In Dhauratanda, the BJP’s Nadeem Ul Hasan (6,417 votes) defeated Muslim candidates of the SP (5,465 votes) and the AIMIM (2,034).
The BJP’s Farkhanda Zabin won in Bhojpur Dharmpur with 7,816 votes, defeating candidates of the SP (3,934 votes), the BSP (1,890 votes) and the AIMIM.
“Support for BJP’s Muslim candidates and division of Muslim votes among different political parties show that their (Muslims’) hate for the BJP is gradually decreasing. Earlier, it was believed that Muslims votes for the party that appears best positioned to defeat the BJP. But now they are giving votes to candidates of every political party,” said a BJP leader.
“Our leadership should at least wake up from the slumber or else we will be near political obliteration by the next general elections in Uttar Pradesh,” said a senior SP functionary in Meerut.
