Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat: 6 lakh Muslim voters in 18 lakh population, yet not a single Muslim candidate

In the first phase in Uttar Pradesh, voting is also to be held on Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat of Western UP. Muzaffarnagar is a very special Lok Sabha seat of UP, where the contest has been very interesting and in the headlines since the riots of 2013. A total of 11 candidates are contesting here. This region is also known as Jatland. BJP has a chance to score a hat-trick of victory on this seat. Chaudhary Charan Singh had contested the first Lok Sabha election of his life from this seat. Although he could not win. There is a majority of Jat and Muslim voters in this Lok Sabha constituency. The surprising thing is that despite there being 6 lakh Muslim voters out of a population of 18 lakh, no political party has fielded a Muslim candidate here. Apart from this, no Muslim candidate has even filed independent nomination.

BJP has once again fielded Sanjeev Baliyan from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat. Last time i.e. in the year 2019 general elections, Balyan had won by a slight margin. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party has made Harendra Malik the candidate from the Indian Alliance. Bahujan Samaj Party has given ticket to real estate businessman Darasingh Prajapati. In the 2019 general elections, BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan defeated RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat. Balyan had got 5 lakh 73 thousand 780 votes. Whereas Chaudhary Ajit Singh had secured 5 lakh 67 thousand 254 votes. Sanjeev Balyan is known as a popular leader in Muzaffarnagar as well as in western Uttar Pradesh including Meerut, Shamli and Baghpat.

If we talk about the political stance of the candidates, then BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan has always shared their sorrows and happiness by being among the public as a Minister of State and now in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 also, BJP has expressed confidence in Sanjeev Balyan and has nominated him. Has declared. Let us tell you that this time Rashtriya Lok Dal has also joined BJP’s NDA alliance.

Samajwadi Party candidate, former Rajya Sabha MP Harendra Malik is counted among the prominent leaders of Muzaffarnagar district. He has the experience of contesting 9 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections himself and making his son Pankaj Malik contest 4 elections. Harendra Malik became MLA from Khatauli and Bagra assembly several times, after which he lost the elections in 1996 from Kisan Kamgar Party which is now known as Rashtriya Lok Dal. After that, he lost the election of MP from Muzaffarnagar in the year 1998, 1999, 2009 and from Kairana Lok Sabha seat in the year 2019 and then in 2002, Harendra Malik was made a Rajya Sabha member from INLD party of Haryana. Now in 2024, he is going to contest elections again from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha with the Indi alliance of SP and Congress. Harendra Malik was successful in making his son Pankaj Malik an MLA. Pankaj Malik became MLA once from Baghra, once from Shamli and then for the third time from Charthawal Assembly.

If we talk about BSP candidate, Prajapati community leader and real estate businessman Dara Singh Prajapati has filed his nomination as BSP candidate from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat. He has submitted details of his property and family members along with the nomination papers. Dara Singh Prajapati is 55 years old. He has a wife Kamlesh, daughter Neha Prajapati and a son Rishabh Prajapati. Cases have been registered against them for giving inflammatory speeches during the dharna at the Commissionerate office, Meerut and stopping the demolition proceedings of the Development Authority, Meerut. Recently, a Swabhiman Yatra was taken out from Haridwar to Ghaziabad to provide social rights to Prajapati Samaj, on which there was lathi charge in Ghaziabad. It was during this period that Dara Singh came into the limelight. After the nomination of Dara Singh Prajapati on Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat, the contest seems to be becoming triangular.

If we talk about not even a single Muslim candidate being in the fray, then it is surprising that all this has happened when Muslim candidates have been winning the Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat at different times since 1967. The reason behind this is the number of Muslim voters here. The total population of Muzaffarnagar is 18 lakh. Out of these, 6 lakh are Muslims. For the Lok Sabha elections 2024, 11 candidates including SP, BSP and BJP are in the fray for Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat. Not a single candidate among them is Muslim. These are the circumstances then. Since 1967, many Muslim leaders have been elected MPs from Muzaffarnagar seat. These include veteran Muslim leaders like Latafat Ali Khan, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Qadir Rana.

Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat of UP proved to be so favorable for Muslim politics that from 1999 to 2014, there were only Muslim MPs here for 15 consecutive years. In 1999, Sayeeduzzaman of Congress defeated Sohanveer Singh of BJP. In the year 2004, Munawwar Hasan of SP defeated Thakur Amarpal Singh of BJP. In 2009, BSP’s Qadir Rana defeated RLD’s Anuradha Chaudhary. Earlier there were two Lok Sabha seats here, Muzaffarnagar and Kairana. Later Kairana Lok Sabha seat went to Shamli district. Two Muslim leaders each won elections on these two seats thrice. For the first time in 1967, Latafat Ali Khan from Muzaffarnagar and Gayur Ali Khan from Kairana won the elections. Both were uncle and nephew. In the year 1999, Saidujjama from Muzaffarnagar and Amir Alam Khan from Kairana won the elections. In 2009, Qadir Rana from Muzaffarnagar and Tabassum Hasan from Kairana won the elections.