Why the BJP may soon not have a Muslim face in Parliament

New Delhi, May 31: The BJP will soon have no Muslim MPs in Parliament. Currently the BJP has three in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.

With the tenure of the three Raya Sabha MPs coming to an end, the party has not nominated any Muslim candidate for the upcoming elections. Currently the the party's three Muslim MPs are Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Syed Zafar Islam, and M J Akbar. However the BJP has not renominated any of them for the Upper House elections to held on June 10. The party announced 22 candidates for the Rajya Sabha and none are Muslims.

Naqvi who is the minority affairs minister will have to get elected if he has to retain his Cabinet berth. Reports say that he may be fielded in the Rampur by-elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The terms of Islam and Akbar come to an end on July 4 and June 29. The President of India has the authority to nominate 12 MPs to the Rajya Sabha. Currently there are seven vacancies in this category.

The BJP is most likely to get a Muslim leader into the Rajya Sabha using this route.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP had fielded six Muslim candidates, but all of them lost. The NDA currently has only one Muslim MP. He is Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Mehboob Ali Kaiser from the Lok Sabha seat of Khagaria.