Khedawala from Cong to be lone Muslim MLA after BJP’s landslide win

The BJP did not field any Muslim candidates and the opposition Congress fielded six, of whom one, Imran Khedawala (who contested the Jamalpur-Khadia seat) secured a win

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) record win in the Gujarat assembly elections on Thursday also brought with a sizeable increase in the party’s tally in seats with sizeable Muslim populations. However, the number of Muslims in the state assembly dropped from three to one.

Congress' Imran Khedawala, who won from the Jamalpur Khadia. (PTI)

The BJP did not field any Muslim candidates and the opposition Congress fielded six, of whom one, Imran Khedawala (who contested the Jamalpur-Khadia seat) secured a win.

Muslims constitute about 9-10% of the state’s population and, according to estimates by political parties, 15 of Gujarat’s 182 constituencies have Muslim populations above 20%.

The BJP grabbed 12 of those seats this year, building on its 2017 tally of eight.

The Congress, in turn, saw its count in these seats dip from eight in 2017 to three this year.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded four Muslim candidates and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) fielded 14, all of whom lost, but splitting anti-BJP votes in some cases.

For instance, in the Dariapur constituency, the Congress’ sitting MLA Gyasuddin Habibuddeen Sheikh lost to the BJP’s Kaushik Jain by a margin of about 5,200 votes — around 700 fewer than the combined ballots won by the AAP’s candidate Tajmohammed Habibbhai Kureshi and the AIMIM’s Hasankhan Samsherkhan Pathan in this seat.

In the Abdasa seat, the BJP fielded former Congress legislator Pradhumansinh Jadeja, who won against his old party’s Muslim candidate, Jat Mamad Jung.