Ahead of the assembly elections in Haryana, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its second list of candidates for 21 assembly seats. Among these 21 seats, the BJP has fielded Muslim candidates in two constituencies - Ferozpur Jhirka and Punahana. From Ferozpur Jhirka, the saffron party has given the ticket to Naseem Ahmed while from Punahana, Aizaz Khan has been made the party candidate.
Ferozepur Jhirka: It is the third consecutive time that the BJP has fielded a Muslim candidate in the Ferozepur Jhirka seat, while for the second time party has put faith in Naseem Ahmad. A two-time MLA from the Ferozepur Jhirka seat, Naseem contested on a BJP ticket in the 2019 assembly elections. He polled 47,542 votes (32.4 per cent) and was defeated by Congress' Mamman Khan.
In the 2014 elections, the BJP made Alam, its candidate who lost to Naseem Ahmad. At that time Naseem was in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
Punahana: In Punahana, it is for the fourth time that the BJP has put a Muslim candidate in the electoral battle. However, this time the saffron party has changed its candidate. The party has given the ticket to Aizaz Khan. Earlier in 2019, the BJP fielded Nauksham Chaudhary, who got 17.56 per cent votes (21421) and was defeated by Congress's Mohd Ilyas. Ilyas polled 35,092 votes.
Moreover, in 2019 and 2014, the BJP also gave tickets to Muslim candidates, namely Iqbal and Tayyub.
No Muslim candidate from Nuh
It is worth noting that in the 2019 assembly elections, the ruling party gave tickets to three Muslim candidates. Apart from Ferozepur Jhirka and Punahana, the BJP gave a ticket to a Muslim candidate from Nuh, the constituency which made headlines during the communal attack on 'Jalabhishek yatra' in 2023.
It was the first time in 2019 that the BJP put faith in a Muslim candidate, Zakir Hussain in Nuh. Zakir was the sitting MLA on the INLD ticket in Nuh and switched sides to contest on the BJP ticket in 2019. Zakir was defeated at the hands of Congress' Aftab Ahmad. Aftab polled an impressive 38.55 per cent votes but was defeated by merely 4,038 votes. This time the BJP has fielded Sanjay Singh from Nuh
