17/10/2019 Madhya Pradesh and its 'Missing' Muslim Legislators - The Hindu Centre https://www.thehinducentre.com/the-arena/current-issues/article25991277.ece 1/12 Madhya Pradesh and its 'Missing' Muslim Legislators MOHD OSAMA 14 JAN 2019 18:28 IST Students in the Madarsa Dar-ul-Uloom Taj-ul-Masajid, Bhopal, MP. Photo: Mohd Osama. In the 15 State Assembly elections held so far in Madhya Pradesh, one thing that has remained static, besides the dominance of national political parties, is the marginal presence of Muslims, both in the electoral arena and among the winners. In the recently-concluded State elections, the Congress clinched a victory after three consecutive defeats. With the party doubling its seats in the assembly, its Muslim representation also doubled. Yet even with this doubling, Muslim MLAs in the Congress – and in the assembly as whole – have manage to reach a dismal figure of only two. Mohd Osama, PhD candidate, Department of Political Science, Jamia Milia Islamia, argues that Muslim representation, which has always been disproportionately low compared with the community’s population, both in the State Assembly and Parliament, and indeed in legislatures in North India as a whole, has dropped even further coinciding with the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party.