Several Muslim Congress members have demanded that Muslims should be chosen as candidates for at least two Assembly constituencies and the Lok Sabha constituency in the district in the upcoming elections.
Congressmen K. Ashraf, B.H. Khader and S.K. Abbas told presspersons here on Wednesday that due to the high density of Muslim population in the district — four lakh out of 15 lakh voters in the constituency — fielding a candidate who belonged to the community would increase the chances of victory in the elections.
The only Muslim MLA was U.T. Khader from Ullal and there was a “need” for two more, Mr. Abbas said and added that this request had been sent to the Congress High Command. He said the decision had been iterated at the meeting of block, cluster, and taluk-level Muslim leaders held yesterday.
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With the word doing the rounds that the former Union Minister Janardhana Poojary and the former MLA Vinay Kumar Sorake were likely to be candidates for the Lok Sabha seat, Mr. Ashraf said the party had “to give others a chance, especially to Muslims in the district, to contest the elections.”