Tag Archives: Mohammad Akbar – Congress MLA – Chhattisgarh

How Muslim MLA numbers have jumped

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The number of Muslim MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assemblies are now two and one, up from one and none respectively in the 2013 Houses.

The big change is in Rajasthan, where the number of Muslim MLAs has gone up to eight from just two in the 2013 House.
The big change is in Rajasthan, where the number of Muslim MLAs has gone up to eight from just two in the 2013 House.

The number of Muslim MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh jumped from three after the 2013 elections to 11 Tuesday as the Congress swept the BJP out of power in the three heartland states. In all, 19 Muslims were elected in the five states that went to polls. The big change is in Rajasthan, where the number of Muslim MLAs has gone up to eight from just two in the 2013 House. The number of Muslim MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assemblies are now two and one, up from one and none respectively in the 2013 Houses.

RAJASTHAN
The Congress fielded 15 Muslim candidates, seven of whom won. One Muslim candidate won on a BSP ticket. The BJP fielded only one Muslim candidate, Yoonus Khan, against Sachin Pilot in Tonk, who lost.

In Pokaran, Shale Mohammad of the Congress edged out the BJP’s Mahant Pratap Puri — the chief priest of the Taratara sect in Barmer, who models himself on UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath — by just 872 votes.

MADHYA PRADESH
After a decade, the House will have more than one Muslim member. Both MLAs in the new Assembly belong to the Congress. Arif Aqueel has represented the Muslim-dominated Bhopal (North) seat six times since the 1990s, and was the only Muslim in the Assemblies elected in 2008 and 2013.

The other Muslim member in the 2018 House is Arif Masood from Bhopal (Central).

The only Muslim candidate fielded by the BJP in 2018 was former Congress Minister Rasool Ahmed Siddique’s daughter Fatima, who lost to Aqueel.

CHHATTISGARH
In a state where Muslims are 2% of the population, the Congress fielded two candidates from the community, and the BJP fielded none. One of the Congress candidates, Mohammad Akbar, won the Kawardha seat with the biggest margin in the state: 59,284. The Congress’s other Muslim candidate, Badruddin Qureshi, lost at Vaishali Nagar.

TELANGANA
Parties in Telangana fielded 26 Muslim candidates at the 119 seats. Eight — seven from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and one from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — won.

The AIMIM fielded eight Muslims; only the one at Rajendranagar — Mirza Rahmat Baig — lost, coming in behind the candidates of the TRS and TDP.

The BJP fielded one Muslim, Shehazadi Syed, who lost to Akbaruddin Owaisi of the AIMIM at Chandrayangutta. The Congress fielded 9 Muslims and the TDP one; all lost. The TRS fielded eight Muslim candidates; Shakil Aamir Mohammed won in Bodhan.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Explained / by Express News Service – Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, New Delhi, Raipur / December 14th, 2018

The Akbar of Chhattisgarh: Lone Muslim MLA in the state wins by a record margin

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , ,

CHHATTISGARH :

AkbarMPOs12dec2018

As Congress comes back to power in Chhattisgarh after fifteen years, one of the most talked about victories in the state elections has come from Kawardha.

Senior Congress leader Mohammad Akbar has won by a huge margin–he was leading by over 51,000 votes as per latest trends.

Akbar will be the sole Muslim MLA in the 90 member Assembly of the tribal-dominated state. He had secured over 1.15 lakh votes while the other candidate, BJP’s Ashok Sahu had secured 64,000 votes.

Congress has swept the state but it is the margin of victory that tells the real story about Akbar, one of the most popular leaders of the state, who strangely is not as much known outside Chhattisgarh.

In fact, this is the biggest win after Amitesh Shukla’s victory over Santosh Upadhyay by a margin of 59,000 votes. Shukla has beaten an earlier record of Ajit Jogi’s victory margin (52,000).

Akbar was a former minister in Congress government (during Ajit Jogi’s tenure).

Though in the last Assembly polls, he had lost, he has won repeatedly from various constituencies across the State.

Though Chhattisgarh doesn’t have a sizable Muslim population–the community is more concentrated in cities and towns, Md Akbar has won from constituencies that had less than 5% Muslims.

In times of polarization, it is no mean achievement. In 1990, he had contested from Raipur rural seat and had lost to Tarun Chatterji, a local strongman and former Mayor of Raipur. Akbar had lost but got nearly 42% votes, even then.

In 1993, he lost from Virendra Nagar constituency but won in the year 1998. The other senior Muslim leader from Chhattisgarh, Badruddin Qureshi, was elected from Bhilai the same year.

Akbar kept getting elected laster also. In 2008, he had won from Pandaria.
Chhattisgarh has a population of over 2.56 crore as per the last Census. There are less than one million Muslims in the state.

In the year 2013, there was no Muslim MLA in Chhattisgarh Assembly. In this election, Akbar will be the sole Muslim legislator. The other Congress leader, Badruddin Qureshi has lost from Vaishalinagar constituency by a margin of around 18,000 votes.

source: http://www.newsd.in / Newsd.in / Home> Assembly Elections 2018> Chattisgarh Election> Politics / by Shams Ur Rehman Alavi / December 12th, 2018