The Karnataka Federation of State Muslim Organisations has raised concerns over what it describes as a sharp decline in Muslim political representation in the state, urging the government to nominate at least one Muslim candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 18.
The demand follows the Federation’s recent report reviewing election promises made by the Indian National Congress ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. The report warned that the community’s presence in legislative bodies had reached its lowest point in years.
In a statement issued on May 26, the Federation said, “Today, there is not a single Muslim Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka. The number of Lok Sabha tickets given by Congress to Muslims has drastically dropped to just one. Representation in the Rajya Sabha is also limited to just one member. Consequently, the representation of the state’s Muslim community in Parliament has hit an all-time low.”
According to the organisation, the Congress is poised to comfortably secure three of the four Rajya Sabha seats up for election, yet Muslim representation has remained “very low” despite the community’s strong electoral support in 2023.
The Indian Express report highlighted the Federation’s findings that under-representation has become more pronounced amid declining ticket allocations for Muslims in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The report also pointed to disproportionately low representation at the MLC level.
The Federation’s renewed push comes amid growing discontent among sections of Karnataka’s Muslim electorate. The unrest has also surfaced within the Indian National Congress itself, leading to disciplinary actions, including the suspension of Abdul Jabbar and the removal of Naseer Ahmed from his position as the chief minister’s political secretary, a post that also carried Cabinet rank.
Although the Congress retained the Davanagere South Assembly seat in a recent bye-poll, where Muslims constitute about one-third of the electorate, the party’s decision not to field a Muslim candidate is widely seen as contributing to a sharp drop in its winning margin, from 27,900 votes to just 5,700.
