– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, April 24: Fourteen constituencies in South Karnataka will go to polls on April 26 and the rest 14 on May 7. Mansoor Ali Khan is the lone Muslim candidate from the major political parties contesting the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Karnataka. He is contesting from Bangalore Central.
Though considered predominantly a Muslim constituency, PC Mohan of BJP has been representing it for the last three elections. In 2009 BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan contested on JD(S) ticket but finished third. Rizwan Arshad contested twice on INC ticket in 2014 and 2019 and was the runner-up both times.
51-year-old Mansoor is the son of former Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, K. Rahman Khan. A graduate in Business Management from Al Ameen College, Bangalore, Mansoor has the strong goodwill of his father to his credit, who served as Chairman of State Minority Commission and did a commendable job of socio-economic survey of the minorities. He is also the first Muslim chartered accountant from Karnataka.
If Mansoor gets through, he will be the first Muslim from the state to enter Lok Sabha since 2009, after a long gap of 15 years.
From 1957 to 2019 ten Muslims have reached Lok Sabha from Karnataka. And the maximum number of Muslim MPs from Karnataka did not exceed three at a time (1967, 1980 and 1999).
In the first parliamentary election held in 1952 the lone Muslim contestant Mohammed Hanif (independent) from Bangalore, lost. J.M Mohammed Imam Sab from Chitradurga succeeded on PSP ticket in 1957. After losing in 1962, he got elected again in 1967 on INC ticket but lost the next election of 1971 from the same party.
F.H. Mohsin from Dharwar South constituency represented the community as INC candidate five times – in 1962, 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1980.
- Nabi Nagnur entered the lower house for the first time in 1967 from Belgaum on INC ticket but lost in 1971. He contested on INC(O) ticket.
CK Jaffer Shariff entered Lok Sabha for the first time in 1971 from Kanakapura constituency on INC(I) ticket. In 1977 he contested from Bangalore North on INC ticket and won. Again in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1998 and 1999 from the same constituency and same party. He was the only Muslim MP from the state to have won six times.
ST Quadri from Shimoga contested and won for the first time in 1980 on INC(I) ticket. Azeez Sait won from Dharwar South on INC ticket in 1984. In 1989 BM Mujahid won from the same constituency on INC ticket. He was reelected from the same constituency in 1991.
Qamarul Islam contested from Gulbarga on Janata Dal ticket in 1996 and won. The same year, Prof. I.G. Sanadi won from Dharwar South on INC ticket, and also the next election in 1999. The same year, Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi won from Gulbarga on INC ticket. He repeated his victory in 2004 from the same constituency and party. He was the last Muslim to enter Lok Sabha from Karnataka. Even though there were two candidates from INC in 2009 and two from JD(S) and five from BSP in the fray, but nobody could get through.
This time Mansoor Ali Khan is trying his fortune from Bangalore Central and the Congress Party has not fielded any other Muslim though there were eligible candidates and favorable constituencies like, Dharwar South, Mangalore, Gulbarga, Haveri and Koppal.
