Elections for 288 seats in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20. The result will be out on 23rd November.
The All India Ulema Board (AIUB) has placed 17 conditions for supporting the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Maharashtra assembly elections. On November 7, the board wrote to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Congress state president Nana Patole.
In the letter, the Ulema Board has said that if the MVA government is formed in Maharashtra, they should oppose the Waqf Bill. Also ban Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The board has demanded 10% reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra and action against leaders like BJP MLA Nitish Rane for making anti-Muslim statements.
Elections for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20. The result will be declared on 23rd November. BJP is contesting elections with Mahayuti alliance. BJP has fielded candidates on 148 seats, Shinde group on 80 seats and Ajit group on 53 seats. The rest of the seats have been given to smaller parties.
Why are Muslim voters important in Maharashtra?
According to Indian Express, the population of Muslims in Maharashtra is about 1.3 crore. Which is 11.56% of the state's total population of 11.24 crores.
Out of the 288 assembly seats in the state, 38 are where Muslims constitute about 20%. 9 of them are seats where Muslim population is more than 40%.
Talking about Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, more than 25% of the population is Muslim in 10 seats here. Mahavikas Aghadi got a large number of minority votes in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Now know how many Muslim candidates there are in Maharashtra elections
A total of 4,140 candidates are contesting for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. Out of which the number of Muslim candidates is insignificant. As for Mahayuti, BJP has not given ticket to any Muslim leader involved in it. Shinde faction's Shiv Sena has fielded one Muslim candidate while Ajit Pawar's NCP has fielded four Muslim leaders.
In Mahavikas Aghadi, Shiv Sena's Uddhav faction has also not fielded a single Muslim candidate, while Congress has fielded eight, NCP-Sharad faction and SP one Muslim candidate each. Owaisi's party AIMIM has fielded 14 candidates, 10 of whom are Muslims.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
