This story is from February 12, 2020

Muslims shift fully to AAP despite Cong's CAA stance

Delhi's Muslims have traditionally voted for Congress but shifted allegiance to the fledgling AAP in 2013. The support, which became more pronounced in 2015, appears to have become absolute now. AAP's Amanatullah Khan, who received more than 1.3 lakh votes, defeated BJP's Braham Singh by a margin of 71,827 votes, one of the biggest in this election.
Muslims shift fully to AAP despite Cong's CAA stance
NEW DELHI: Delhi's Muslims have traditionally voted for Congress but shifted allegiance to the fledgling AAP in 2013. The support, which became more pronounced in 2015, appears to have become absolute now. On Tuesday, as results of the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections were announced, this was most glaringly evident at Okhla.
AAP's Amanatullah Khan, who received more than 1.3 lakh votes, defeated BJP's Braham Singh by a margin of 71,827 votes, one of the biggest in this election.In the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections, Khan had defeated Singh by a margin of 64,532. While the margin by which Khan had won last time was also huge, the biggest difference has been in the fortunes of Congress.

In 2015, Asif Mohd Khan of Congress had garnered 20,135 votes but this time three-time Congress MLA Parvez Hashmi got just 5,107 votes. In the Muslim-dominated Okhla constituency, Khan got 66% vote share, while the once popular Congress got just 2.5%!
Okhla is important as Shaheen Bagh, epicentre of the protests against the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act, is part of the constituency. While AAP focused on the development plank, Shaheen Bagh was used as a polarising poll plank by BJP across the city. AAP didn't take a clear stand on the anti-CAA protests and kept a safe distance from Shaheen Bagh while Congress was vocal against CAA and NRC. In its manifesto, Congress had promised to pass a resolution in Delhi Assembly against CAA and ask the central government to withdraw it. It had also promised that if it came to power, it would not implement NRC and will not implement NPR in its current form. But the community didn't see it as capable of keeping BJP at bay.

Muslim

AAP performed very well in other Muslim-dominated constituencies of the city too. At Seelampur, which too has been witnessing anti-CAA protests, AAP's Abdul Rehman defeated BJP's Kaushal Kumar Mishra by 36,992 votes and Congress stalwart Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed came a close third. At Ballimaran, AAP's Imran Hussain won by a margin of 36,178 votes, while Congress bigwig Haroon Yusuf could garner only 4,797 votes. At Matial Mahal, AAP's Shoaib Iqbal won by a margin of 50,226 votes, while Congress candidate Mirza Javed Ali received only 3,403 votes.
“It is wrong to think the minority votes in a bloc...However, the community is not economically well off. Kejriwal has helped them,” said Ravi Ranjan, assistant professor, Zakir Hussan Delhi College, Delhi University.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA