Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the civic polls with a thumping majority but the five Muslim candidates fielded by the party lost on five seats. Congress won four seats while the AAP won one seat against the BJP’s Muslim candidates. Though the BJP’s Muslim candidates did not win they have managed to get a sizeable number of votes in predominantly Muslim wards.
It has given credence to the theory that Muslims too are getting attracted to the “lotus”. Political pundits say this a paradigm shift and may impact poll results in the days to come as BJP has managed to win the confidence of Muslim voters.
The Muslim faces of Delhi BJP were Kuwar Rafi from Zakir Nagar, Sartaj Ahmed from Chauhan Banger, Sabra Malik from Mustafabad, Famudin Safi from Delhi Gate and Rubina Begum from Quresh Nagar.
The AAP, managed to win in Chauhan Banger ward while the other four seats went to the Congress.
Saifi managed to get 3,204 votes while Begum got 6,830 votes, which is quite high for a Muslim candidate fielded by the BJP.
The BJP’s decision to field five Muslim candidates in Delhi came after it didn’t give a single ticket to Muslims for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Despite this, the party had managed to win many Muslim-majority seats.
The Congress which stood against BJP in Muslim- dominated areas, attacked the saffron party for its symbolic nationalism. A Congress leader said that these areas where the BJP had fielded Muslim candidates were essentially Congress strongholds, hence this verdict was expected. “Fielding Muslim candidates from these areas was a superficial act,” he added.