Division of Muslim vote may help BJP

Syed Ali Ahmed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 27

Division of Muslim vote in minority-dominated Assembly constituencies in Delhi may help the BJP. So far, Muslims have been unable to decide on en bloc voting in favour of a particular party.

Influential Muslims in five constituencies — Okhla, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Seelampur and Mustafabad — have met a number of times to decide the candidates to whom the Muslim electorate should vote en bloc. But they could not decide due to differences and influence of sitting Congress MLAs.
In the last Assembly elections, the Congress had won eight seats. Out of them four were Muslims. A number of resident welfare associations (RWAs) in Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Bagh, Batla House, Joga Bai and Zakir Nagar — all part of the Okhla assembly constituency — have held meetings to decide on whom the Muslims should vote. While they think AAP can emerge as a powerful party that can prevent the BJP from coming to power, they are still having second thoughts.
Ballimaran is a stronghold of the Congress. Its candidate Hroon Yusuf has won the seat for four consecutive terms. In the previous election, the AAP candidate had secured 13,000 votes and was on third position. In this election, AAP candidate Imran Hussain, a municipal councillor, has impressed influential people of his constituency with his work.
He can make a dent in the Congress vote bank. But Muslims have not decided on en bloc voting as they remain divided.