More than 50 Muslim candidates out of the 395 fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh, including five for posts of Nagar Panchayat Chairpersons. The U.P. BJP’s ‘Minority Morcha’ president Kunwar Basit Ali told The Hindu on Sunday that the figures may increase further.
“As of the latest available figures with us, 54 Muslim candidates from the BJP won in local body polls, including in Muslim dominated areas like Sambhal, Bareilly and Moradabad,” Mr. Ali said. A Muslim BJP candidate, Shoaib Abbas, emerged victorious in Ayodhya’s Bharatkund Ward Number 4 for the post of councillor, while Hakikun Nisha won from Baba Gambhirnath, a seat reserved for Other Backward Class (OBC) women under the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation.
The BJP’s Kausar Abbas won the Nagar Panchayat Chairperson seat from Sambhal district’s Sirsi Nagar Panchayat; Phul Bano Ansari won the Chairperson election from Saharanpur’s Chilkana Nagar Panchayat; Wali Mohammad won from the Hardoi Gopamau Nagar Panchayat; and Nadimul Hasan won from Bareilly’s Dhaura Tanda Nagar Panchayat.
