Jharkhand Assembly Election: Where Is Muslim Representation As Per Rahul Gandhi’s Slogan?

Seven months ago, Irfan Ansari and his father Furqan Ansari were lashing out at the Congress party while being in it, demanding that at least one seat should be given to a Muslim candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The focus of the demand then was Godda, one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats from Jharkhand. Furqan Ansari had been the Congress candidate in the seat from 1996 to 2014; though he managed to win only in 2004.

In 2019, when the Congress, JMM and RJD were contesting the elections as an alliance, not even a single ticket was given to Muslim candidates by these parties. The same trend continued in the 2024 elections as well.

Ahead of the Assembly elections however, Irfan is silent. According to political analysts, the silence is due to his recent appointment as a minister in the Jharkhand government.

However, the question about Muslim representation according to their population in the state assembly remains.

Nehal Ahmed, Secretary of Marhaba Human Society, believes that once again, tickets will be given to Muslims in the assembly elections merely for show. Nehal Ahmed's raises the question to the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)  on how long Muslims will only be a vote bank for them. He further tells Outlook, "Why are we not given tickets according to our population? The constitutional bodies associated with Muslims have not been reorganised for years. Policies are not made for years. Is our participation limited to just voting?”

In the last two decades, the political status of Muslims in Jharkhand has been on a downtrend. In Jharkhand assembly polls, Congress gave the least number of tickets to Muslims in the 2019 elections when compared to previous years. After the formation of the Jharkhand state in 2000, the first election for the legislative assembly was held in 2005. Congress and JMM contested the election in alliance. At that time, in 2005, there were five Muslim candidates from Congress and four from JMM. In this election, RJD also had five Muslim candidates. In 2009, Congress contested the election in alliance with JVM (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha). Congress gave tickets to eight Muslim candidates and JVM to two; JMM and RJD had four Muslim candidates each. In the 2014 elections, all the above parties contested separately. There were seven Muslim candidates from Congress, six from JMM, six from JVM and one from RJD. In the 2019 elections, JMM, Congress and RJD fought in alliance and had four, three and one Muslim candidates, respectively. The BJP has not given tickets to any Muslims in any election in Jharkhand. 

In 2019, out of the 8 Muslim candidates of the UPA alliance for the 81-seat Jharkhand assembly, four won. In 2024, tickets from the Congress to Muslims will be less as compared to last time.  JMM had given tickets to Muslim candidates from four seats in 2019, including Madhupur, Gande, Rajmahal and Dhanwar. This time there will be no INDIA alliance Muslim candidate from Gande seat; instead Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren will be contesting from there. The Dhanwar seat will go to CPI (ML).

JMM and Congress are the two major parties of the INDIA Alliance. Last time, they contested in 73 seats, whereas this time both these parties will contest in 70 seats. Apart from RJD, the remaining seats have been left for CPI(ML), which is part of the INDIA Alliance. 

S Ali, President of the All Muslim Youth Association (AMYA), says that Muslims, who played a significant role in the formation of a separate state of Jharkhand, are being politically exploited and suppressed. Ali further says, “Even last time in 2019, the UPA Alliance did not give tickets according to the proportion of the Muslim population. This time the number of seats is being reduced even more. This makes it clear that Muslims are being deprived of politics.” 

The population of Muslims is 15 per cent of the total population of the state of Jharkhand, which is around 60 lakhs. According to AMYA, there are 10-15 seats in Jharkhand from where Muslim candidates can be given tickets. The former Congress leader and President of United Bihar, Sarfaraz Ahmed, too believe this.

According to a report, Pakur has 35.08 per cent Muslim votes, Rajmahal 34.06 per cent Muslim votes,  Jamtara 38 per cent Muslim votes, Godda 27 per cent Muslim votes, Madhupur 25 per cent Muslim votes, Gande 23 per cent Muslim votes, Tundi 22 per cent Muslim votes, Rajdhanwar 17 per cent Muslim votes, Mahagama 17 per cent Muslim  Hatia 16 per cent Muslim votes.

Rahul Gandhi emphasises the slogan ‘Representation in proportion to population’. However, it is not visible in the current political space of the state of Jharkhand.