Akhilesh Yadav's Muslim MLA made a big claim
Samajwadi party mla Raees Sheikh on wednesday said that the results of assembly constituencies with a significant number of Muslims in maharashtra prove the claim that the minority community votes en masse against the bjp wrong. The Bhiwandi (East) mla, citing polling data, claimed that the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won 21 of the 38 seats in the november 20 elections, where the Muslim population is between 20 per cent and 52 per cent.
Shaikh said in a statement here that most of the winning candidates were Hindus. He alleged, "If there was 'vote jihad', this would not have happened. Some Mahayuti candidates won by a margin of 1,500 votes. But the claim of 'vote jihad' has been used to defame the Muslim community." Hasan Mushrif-Abdul Sattar won from Hindu-dominated seats: Raees Sheikh
The SP mla said he himself won in a Muslim-dominated constituency by a margin of 52,000 votes, of which 18,000 were Hindus. He said BJP's 'divisive slogans' like 'Batenge toh kateng' and 'Ek hain toh safe hain' had no impact on voters. He said Muslim candidates Hasan Mushrif and Abdul Sattar, on the other hand, won from Hindu-dominated Kagal and Sillod seats respectively.
devendra fadnavis had accused of trying to polarise
He also said Muslims constitute 11.56 per cent of Maharashtra's population but their representation in the new assembly is only 3.47 per cent. During the election campaign, bjp leader devendra fadnavis had accused the opposition of trying to polarise voters and said if there is 'vote jihad', it should be countered with a 'dharma yuddha' of votes.