MUMBAI: After Wajahat Mirza of the Congress and Abdullah Khan Durrani of the NCP (SP) end their respective terms this month, the state legislative council will for the first time in history have no Muslim member.
Muslim politicians demanded that the MVA must ensure adequate representation for Muslims in the next election to the council. Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh wrote a letter to the MVA top brass - Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Congress state unit president Nana Patole, and NCP (SP) state unit president Jayant Patil - saying that despite Muslims comprising nearly 12% of the state population, they were not being represented in the council polls.
The state has a bicameral legislature since 1937. Officials said there had always been some Muslim representation in the upper house.
The total strength of the council is 78, but with several vacant seats, the current strength is 51. Mirza and Durrani retire on July 27.
Shaikh said the MVA did not field a Muslim candidate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election despite 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state having Muslim majority. "Since the state came into existence, 567 MPs were elected from Maharashtra, out of which the Muslim community got only 15 (2.5%) MPs. By denying representation to Muslims, the MVA risks alienating the community and potentially driving them towards parties like the AIMIM, which polarises the Muslim community," Shaikh said.
No Muslim has been named as a candidate for the council election scheduled for Friday.
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