No Muslim MVA pick yet, eye on North-Central

MUMBAI: With MVA parties entering the final stage of declaring their candidates for the LS polls, many Muslims have urged Congress to nominate at least one leader from their community, preferably from Mumbai North-Central.
Congress has announced its nominees for 12 seats, Sena (UBT) for 17 and NCP (SP) for five, but none is a Muslim. Many Muslims feel if it fields no Muslim candidate from any of the 48 LS seats, the secular alliance will send out the “wrong message” that it has taken the community for granted.The parties’ picks for 14 seats are yet to be declared.
Mumbai North-Central covers six assembly segments and has 12% Muslim voters. BJP’s Poonam Mahajan defeated Congress’s Priya Dutt from there in 2014 and 2019. Former minister Arif Naseem Khan, who lost by just 409 votes in the 2019 state polls, and actors Raj Babbar and Swara Bhaskar are said to be the frontrunners for a Congress ticket from the LS seat. Congress leader Zakir Ahmed said Khan has a wide appeal among Muslims.