Muslims MLAs See Sharp Decline Across Indian States Amid BJP's Expansio, Falling Far Below Proportionate Representation

New Delhi: The rise of the BJP across Indian states has brought about another significant change in the political demography of India. The most visible demographic change has become the sharp decline of the number of Muslim MLAs in state assemblies as well as the Lok Sasha.

As per an investigative report by The Indian Express, the number of Muslim MLAs has dropped from around 339 in 2013 to about 255 as of now, suggesting a steep decline even in places with a good number of Muslim population. The trend shows a clear lack of proportionate representation among Muslims as many states, including Uttar Pradesh with the largest Muslim population, have nearly halved Muslim MLAs from 63 to 31.

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In West Bengal, the number has fallen from 59 to 37, while in Bihar the number has dropped from 19 to 11. Rajasthan too has seen a fall from 11 to 6, the report pointed out. Despite making up 19% of the population in Uttar Pradesh, Muslims hold less than 8% of seats in the assembly, versus 12.6% of MLAs against a population of roughly 27% in West Bengal and 4.5% compared to nearly 17% of the population in Bihar.

The data analysis shows the Muslim representation began to decline with the rise of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar, among other states. In Assam, where Muslims form over a third of the population, they have roughly 17% of seats in the state assembly.

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Even in states which had adequate Muslim representation and which are not even affected by the saffron wave, the number of Muslim MLAs has declined. Even Jammu and Kashmir, which still has one of the highest numbers of Muslim MLAs, has seen a drop from 58 to 51. In Kerala, the representation has gone from 36 to 34 Muslim MLAs, and Katakana from 11 to 9. Seven states—Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Malachi Pradesh, Mizoram, Naga land, Sikkim and Chhattisgarh—currently have no Muslim MLAs.

The exception is only reported from Tamil Nadu, which has increased the Muslim MLAs from 8 to 9.