24 Muslim candidates win LS seats this time, two less than 2019 polls
New Delhi, Jun 5: As many as 24 Muslim candidates across the country have won the Lok Sabha elections and they include former cricketer Yusuf Pathan of the Trinamool Congress from Bahrampur in West Bengal and Congress' Rakibul Hussain from Dhubri in Assam.
However, the community's presence in the 18th Lok Sabha has reduced marginally from 26 last time but is higher than the 2014 tally when 23 Muslim candidates were elected to the lower house of Parliament.
As many as 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties.
Among the Muslim candidates who won this time, Rakibul Hussain's victory in Dhubri was significant in terms of the winning margin. The Congress candidate secured 14.71 lakh votes and defeated his nearest rival Mohammad Badruddin Ajmal by one of the highest margins of about 10 lakh votes.
On the other hand, first-time contender Yusuf Pathan beat Congress leader in the Lok Sabha and six-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by 85,022 votes in his Baharampur bastion in West Bengal.
Congress candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, Imran Masood, won by a margin of 64,542 votes while Iqra Choudhary, a 29-year-old Samajwadi Party candidate from Kairana, secured victory over BJP's Pradeep Kumar by 69,116 votes.
Afzal Ansari, the incumbent MP from Ghazipur and the younger brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, retained the seat by bagging 5.3 lakh votes while 28-year-old Iqra Choudhary won the Kairana seat by a margin of over 69,000 votes.
Samajwadi Party's Mohibbullah won the Rampur seat by securing 4,81,503 votes, while Zia Ur Rehman won in Sambhal by a margin of 1.2 lakh votes.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi retained his Hyderabad seat by a margin of 3,38,087 votes over his nearest rival BJP's Madhavi Latha Kompella.
In Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference's Srinagar candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, a prominent Shia leader, secured 3,56,866 votes and won by a margin of 1.88 lakh votes against his nearest rival PDP's Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.
Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference won in Anantnag-Rajouri by 2,81,794 votes against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
In Ladakh, Independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa secured a victory by a margin of 27,862 votes while another Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh won Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla seat by bagging 4.7 lakh votes.
In Bihar, Congress' Tariq Anwar won the Katihar seat after a close contest with JD(U) candidate Dulal Chandra Goswami. Anwar won by a margin of 49,863 votes.
Congress now has the highest number of seven Muslim MPs, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has five, and the SP has four. The Indian Union Muslim League has three MPs -- T Mohammad Bashir from Malappuram, M P Abdurasmad Samdani from Ponnani, Kerala and K Navaskani from Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
