Miffed Muslim leaders plan for tactical voting

Community's poor representation, as revealed by major parties' nominations in assembly elections, is under scrutiny in Mumbai

- Manoj Ramakrishnan

Muslim politicians, Ulemas from religious organisations, and community NGOs are set to convene in Mumbai on Tuesday to formulate a political strategy for Muslim voters, following the low representation of Muslims revealed by major parties' candidate nominations.

The five major parties within the two political blocks have announced candidates for most of the assembly seats in Mumbai. The Congress party has included three Muslims on their list: Amin Patel, Aslam Shaikh, and Naseem Khan from Mumbadevi, Malad (West), and Chandivali, respectively. Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has announced the names of Sana Malik, daughter of the sitting Anushakti Nagar MLA, and Zeeshan Siddique, son of former Congress MLA Baba Siddiqui, who was murdered earlier this month, from Bandra (East).