No Muslim candidate by Congress either, BSP only national party to field one in Gujarat

THE BSP is the only national party that has fielded a Muslim candidate for the Lok Sabha polls in Gujarat, with even the Congress refraining from nominating one.

In all, there are 32 Muslim candidates of the total 266 candidates in the fray in the state that will vote on May 7.

A majority of the Muslim candidates are contesting independently, while a few are from smaller parties like Bhartiya Jan Nayak Party that has a candidate from Kheda, Log Party (Navsari), Right to Recall Party (Kheda) and the Social Democratic Party of India (Patan and Navsari).

At seven, the highest number of Muslim candidates are contesting in Gandhinagar, from where Union Home Minister Amit Shah is the BJP candidate and Sonal Patel the Congress’s. This is followed by Bharuch and Patan, with four Muslim candidates each.

Muslims are estimated to be around 10% of Gujarat’s population. They are in sizeable numbers in at least 15 seats, which include Kutch, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad West, Ahmedabad East, Gandhinagar, Navsari, Panchmahals, and Anand.

In 2019, 2009 and 2004, the Congress had fielded a Muslim candidate each from Bharuch — once a stronghold of its late senior leader Ahmed Patel — with Sherkhan Pathan, Aziz Tankarvi and Mohammad Patel nominated, respectively. This time, the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting the Bharuch seat as the INDIA bloc representative, and the party has fielded its MLA Chaitar Vasava.

In 2014, the Congress fielded Jayesh Patel from Bharuch, but chose a Muslim candidate to take on the BJP’s C R Paatil in Navsari.

In the last two elections, the BJP swept the Gujarat Lok Sabha polls, winning all 26 seats. This time, there will be polling in only 25 seats, with