Muslims stand by SP in bid to reclaim lost relevance

LUCKNOW: Eyeing to reclaim their electoral significance, Muslims — who comprise 19% of UP’s population — made their presence felt in the 70-odd seats where the community has at least 30% presence. Several Muslim candidates fielded by Samajwadi Party had either won or were leading till late evening.The community is keeping its fingers crossed on improving its 2017 tally of 24 Muslim MLAs — the lowest ever. This time, while SP fielded fewer Muslim candidates (64), seen as an attempt to shed the tag of MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination — BSP fielded 88 Muslims, Congress 75 and AIMIM candidates. From the pattern of voting, SP remains the top choice for Muslims. BSP and AIMIM got some support, but ended up playing spoilsport for SP candidates who were trailing by slender margins.There are as many as 143 seats in UP where, it’s believed, Muslims can make or mar the fortunes of political parties. In 70 of these seats, Muslims have 20-25% presence, and in the remaining 73, they account for 30% or more of the population. Most of these seats are in Western UP.