According to party leaders, the BJP fielded 395 Muslim candidates in the recently concluded local body elections in Uttar Pradesh and over 40 of them won, including five posts of town panchayat president.
He said that the Muslims have expressed their faith in the central and state government.
Rejecting this claim, the Samajwadi Party said that the BJP should tell how many Muslim candidates it will field in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Uttar Pradesh BJP’s minority cell chief Kunwar Basit Ali told PTI on Sunday that the party fielded a total of 395 Muslim candidates in the urban local body elections and 40-45 of them emerged victorious.
He said, “Of the 32 Muslim candidates fielded by the party for the post of town panchayat president, five emerged victorious – Wali Mohammad (from Gopamau in Hardoi district), Phool Bano (from Chilkana in Saharanpur), Kausar Abbas (from Sirsi). Sambhal), Nadimul Hasan (from Dhaura Tanda in Bareilly) and Farkhand Jabi (from Bhojpur in Moradabad). Rukhsana, Nagar Panchayat member from Meerut’s Siwalkhas (ward number 3), who won by 316 votes, and Hakikun Nisha, who won the post of corporator in Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation, by a margin of 15 votes.
Javed Malik, president of BJP’s minority cell in western Uttar Pradesh, told PTI that the strategy of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress to intimidate Muslims during the elections had failed.
“Muslims have expressed their faith in the central and state government,” he said.
Expressing happiness over the performance of BJP candidates, Minister of State for Muslim Waqf, Haj and Minority Welfare Danish Azad Ansari said, ‘The results have been very good. The places where we did not win, including the Muslim areas, we secured the second position, while the SP slipped to the third position. Said.
In Rampur Nagar Palika Parishad, AAP’s Sana Khanam won with 43,121 votes, BJP’s Masarat Mujeeb was the runner-up with 32,173 votes and SP’s Fatma Zabi came third with 16,273 votes, he said, clarifying his point.
BJP ensured educational, social and political development of the minorities, due to which they are experiencing economic development. Ansari said the party also ensured their social and political development.
SP spokesperson Abbas Haider, however, rubbished the BJP’s claims.
The administration had created an atmosphere of fear in the urban local body elections. Despite this, SP’s performance in Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats has been good.
He said, ‘And if BJP is now talking about Muslims, then it will have to tell how many Muslims it will give tickets in the Lok Sabha elections.’
Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi termed the BJP as selfish and said that Muslims are not going to be influenced by the statements of its leaders.
“They talk about Muslims while seeking votes but after the election results are out, they indulge in divisive politics,” he said. Muslim voters are not going to be influenced by such statements of BJP leaders.
In Uttar Pradesh’s mayoral election, the BJP won all the 17 mayoral seats on Saturday.
The urban local body elections were held in two phases – on May 4 and May 11 – to elect 17 mayors and 1,401 corporators. According to the State Election Commission, nineteen corporators were elected unopposed.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)