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presidential polls elections 2019
general election 2018
Congress will not field
candidates against
Akhilesh Yadav and
Mayawati
seven for the BJP (1.2 per cent of all candidates). So turncoat. By comparison, Congress’s Muslim candi-
far, the Congress has fielded 18 Muslim candidates, dates have more experience. Seven of them belong to
mostly in UP (8), Andhra Pradesh (4) and West Bengal prominent political families, such as Imran Masood,
(3). The BJP, on the other hand, has given only six tick- Zafar Ali Naqvi, Saleem Iqbal Sherwani and Salman
ets to Muslim candidates, three in Kashmir and one Khursheed.
in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Lakshadweep In Bijnor, the Congress has fielded Naseemuddin
each. An initial glance indicates that the BJP Muslim Siddiqui, former number two in Mayawati’s Cabinet.
candidates come with far less experience and political Kaisar Jahan is also a former BSP UP minister. In West
credentials. Bengal, Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, in Maldaha
In J&K, Mohammad Maqbool War is a former can- Dakshin,is the only incumbent Muslim MP to re-run
didate. He ran in the 2008 state election in Sopore . In Maldaha Uttar, the incumbent MP Mausam Noor,
as an independent and in the 2014 state elections in who has defected to Trinamool Congress,has been
Langate on a BJP ticket. In these elections, he finished replaced by Isha Khan Chowdhury, the current MLA
22nd and 10th, with 93 and 523 votes respectively. Sofi from Sujapur and member of a prominent political
Youssuf is a four-time BJP candidate in state elections family.
from Anantnag. He ended in the fourth position on Abu Hena, candidate in Murshidabad, is a five-time
three occasions.He also ran in the 2004 general elec- MLA from Lalgola and a former West Bengal minis-
tions, again in Anantnag, finishing fourth with less ter.In the South, the Congress is fielding Sheikh Mas-
than 5,000 votes. tan Vali, current MLA from Guntur East. In Alapuzha,
Khalid Jahangir is a journalist and political strate- Kerala, the incumbent MP KC Venugopal has been
gist, appointed as a local BJP spokesperson in 2014. replaced by Shanimol Usman, a former AICC Secre-
This is his first election. Jatothu Hussain Naik is a tary. Only Mohd Shahjahan Basha, in Rajampet, is a
former BJP MLA candidate in Mahbubabad in 2018, newcomer.
where he finished third. In Lakshadweep, the BJP This is still a preliminary picture of the candida-
appointed Abduyl Khader Haji as chief of the local ture landscape. What can be said so far is that the BJP,
party unit in 2017. contrary to claims made, largely clings onto its sitting
In West Bengal however, Mafuja Khatun is a for- MPs, while reshuffling candidates in states where
mer MLA, and a Communist Party of India (Marxist) it hopes to expand. The Congress is fielding a larger
Tehelka / 30 april 2019 19 www.Tehelka.com
