Eight Muslims in Five New Assemblies

New Delhi: An altogether eight Muslims could manage to be elected among the total 590 Assembly segments in four principal states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in the recently concluded states elections. Five Muslims namely Haroon Yusuf (Ballimaran), Shoaib Iqbal (matia Mahal), Hassan Ahmed (Mustafabad), Asif Ahmed Khan (Okhla) and Choudhury Mateen Ahmed (Seelampur) were elected for the 70-member Delhi Assembly. Of these, except Shoaib Iqbal who belongs to JDU, all others were elected on Congress ticket.  New Madhya Pradesh Assembly will have just one Muslim MLA Areef Aqeel representing North Bhopal. In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, both new Muslim MLAs Yunus Khan from Deedwana and Habibur Rahman Ashrafi Lamba from Nagaur, have been elected on the BJP ticket.  Chhattisgarh Assembly will have no Muslim representation. Previous Assembly had two Muslim faces, both could not retain their seats this time. Mizoram too has no Muslim representation as the Muslim population in the states is less than one per cent.