Senior Muslim leaders from the Congress have written to party president Rahul Gandhi, saying that one of the five senior Muslim leaders in Delhi, who are former MLAs, should be given a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election either from Chandni Chowk or north-east Delhi constituencies.
The letter signed by Shoaib Iqbal, Martin Ahmed, Hasan Ahmed and Asif Mohd Khan says that there was resentment amongst the people and political circle for not giving a ticket to any of the Muslim leaders from Delhi.
“Keeping in view the number of Muslim votes, the contribution and track record of winning elections by the five Muslim leaders, one ticket must be given to any one of them either from Chandni Chowk or North-East Delhi parliamentary seat,” the letter read
Names for consideration
The leaders asked Mr. Gandhi to consider the names of Shoaib Iqbal, Martin Ahmed, Hasan Ahmed, Asif Mohd Khan and Delhi Congress working president Haroon Yusuf for a ticket.
The Congress has finalised names of its candidates on four seats while last-minute discussions were on for the remaining three, AICC in-charge of Delhi Congress, P.C. Chacko, had said earlier. Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, former Union Minister Ajay Maken from New Delhi, former MP J.P. Agarwal from North-East Delhi and former Delhi government Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan for North-West Delhi, sources said, were the finalised candidates. Going by this list, the two constituencies with a seizable Muslim population that the Muslim leaders asked Mr. Gandhi to consider have already been assigned to candidates.
In the letter, the leaders claimed that all five leaders were very active in politics and were very popular among voters from every community.
