Voters have sent 36 Muslim candidates to the 18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly compared to 24 in the previous Assembly polls. The newly elected MLAs account for 8.93% of the total 403 legislators in a state with 19% of the Muslim population.
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Among the prominent Muslim MLAs were Azam Khan, his son Abdullah Azam Khan, jailed-gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas, and nephew Suhaib.
In Rampur, jailed SP leader Azam Khan won the seat after securing 1,21,755 votes, while BJP’s Akash Saxena was a distant second with 56,368 votes.
In Suar (Rampur), Azam’s son Abdullah received 1,26,162 votes against 65,059 votes of Haidar Ali Khan alias Hamza Mian, who contested on BJP ally Apna Dal’s ticket.
In Mau, Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari, fighting on an SBSP ticket, defeated BJP’s Ashok Kumar Singh by 38,227 votes.
In Mohammadabad (Ghazipur), former MLA Sibgatullah Ansari’s son and Mukhtar’s nephew Suhaib Ansari emerged victorious with a margin of 18,199 votes against BJP’s sitting MLA Alka Rai.
In the high-voltage Kairana seat, SP’s Nahid Hasan secured a win after polling 1,31,035 votes against BJP candidate Mriganka Singh’s 1,05,148.
In Nizamabad (Azamgarh), SP’s 85-year-old veteran Alam Badi was re-elected ahead of BJP’s Manoj by a margin of 34,187 votes.
Kithore (Meerut) saw a close contest between SP’s Shahid Mazoor and BJP’s Satvir Singh. Mazoor won the seat by a slender margin of 2,180 votes.
In Nizamabad (Azamgarh), SP’s 85-year-old veteran Alam Badi scored a comfortable victory with 79,835 votes compared to BJP candidate Manoj’s 45,648.
In Kundarki (Moradabad), SP MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq’s son Zia-ur-Rehman trounced BJP’s Kamal Kumar by 43,162 votes.