New Delhi: Two Muslim-centric parties – Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) – fail To make a mark in the Karnataka Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Saturday.
SDPI fielded candidates on 16 seats, but drew a blankWhile Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which contested two seats, failed to make any impact, Karnataka has 13% Muslim population, As per 2011 census.
The minority community seems to have rallied behind the Congress as indicated by the fact that the Janata Dal (Secular) , With its core Vokkaliga support base and among Muslims in its South Karnataka stronghold , Reduced to 20 seats from 37 in 2018. Its vote share fell from 18.3 percent to 13.3 percent in the last election.
This was the first election after the Islamic organization Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned. Home Ministry did Banned it for five years and notified it as an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act last September. SDPI is the political wing of PFI.
When asked why PFI was banned but SDPI was spared, BJP leader Like former minister KS Eshwarappa It had then argued that the SDPI was a political party and the central government had to take the opinion of the Election Commission, following which Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of not banning the party. Share the vote.
Espousing the cause of Muslims after a series of controversies over hijab, halal, Tipu Sultan and Basavaraj Bommai government’s decision, both sides were banking on perceived resentment within the community. scrap 4 percent Describing the move of reservation for Muslims in view of the elections as illegal, Owaisi had said, “Why were there no protests? Why were there no strong statements from the so-called secular leaders and parties?”
last stage The campaign saw the BJP building on the Hindutva momentum on the Congress’ promise to ban organizations such as the Bajrang Dal and the banned PFI, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi chanting ‘Bajrang Bali ki Jai’ during his rallies.
The SDPI fielded six of its 16 candidates from coastal Karnataka, which is considered the epicenter of Hindutva politics. Five of these seats – Puttur, Mangaluru, Bantwal, Belthangady and Moodbidri – fall in Dakshina Kannada district, while the sixth seat is Kaup in Udupi district. While none of the candidates could make a significant impact, Abdul Majeed in Narasimharaja secured 38,606 votes and 25 per cent of the vote. Mangalore’s candidate, Riyaz Farangipete, secured around 10 per cent of the vote. Other SDPI candidates got less than 4 per cent votes.
AIMIM’s Hubli-Dharwad former candidate Durgappa Kashappa Bijawad secured 5,600 votes. votes, while its Basavana Bagewadi candidate Allahbakhsh Bijapur got only 1,472 votes. vote. Congress candidates are leading in both the seats.
SDPI’s campaign came to an end even before the start of polling. After the announcement, the party will field candidates in 100 seats Last year only 16 candidates contested the elections. Similarly, last month the AIMIM had announced that it would contest on 25 seats, but fielded only two candidates.
In 2021, SDPI and AIMIM made inroads in Karnataka by winning urban local body seats Election, The SDPI did particularly well in the coastal region.
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‘He was not in the race to win the seat’
Some experts believe that SDPI and AIMIM were not really in the race to win the seat. “Their presence is felt where the victory margin was 5,000 to 10,000 votes. Like the Aam Aadmi Party, they also want to register their presence, the kind of electoral identity they have, they want to register it. I don’t think there were bigger things for him to achieve,” Professor Chambi Puranik, former faculty member of the Department of Political Science, University of Mysore, told The Print.
“You can say instead of NOTA, they were there. Also, they want to register their protest against polarization in a legitimate way.”
In 2018, the SDPI contested three seats – Chickpet in Bengaluru, Narasimharaja in Mysuru and Gulbarga North in Kalaburagi district, while its The total vote share was only 0.12 percent, with the party securing over 10 percent of the vote. The three seats he contested. In Chickpet, the SDPI leader had won 11,700 votes, while the BJP candidate’s victory margin over the Congress was just 7,934. Similarly, SDPI President Abdul Majeed got 20 per cent votes in Narasimharaja seat, though he could not win.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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