New Delhi: The four states – Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala – and one Union territory, Puducherry, where assembly elections have recently concluded include significant Muslim populations. At least 104 of the elected MLAs are from the community which accounts for 14.36% of the total 723 elected in these rounds of the polls. None of them however, are from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the country’s largest political party, a report on Deccan Herald by Shemin Joy highlights. Notably, the BJP had not nominated a single Muslim candidate in any of the four states.The saffron party, therefore, does not have a single elected Muslim MLA in Assam and West Bengal, where the party won the elections following a high pitched communal campaign of driving out “infiltrators”. In addition, on May 6, it accused the Congress of being “divisive,” with the Union minister for minority affairs Kiren Rijiju himself dubbing the party the “Muslim League Party”.Prior to the elections, an analysis by Hindustan Times had shown that the West Bengal, Assam and Kerala are important for Muslim representation. A mapping of assembly seats with districts shows that of the 492 assembly seats in districts where Muslims accounted for at least 25% of the population, 58% were in these three states. This is much more than the 14% share in the total number of MLAs in the country. In West Bengal, where Muslims account for 27% of the population according to the 2011 Census, 40 elected MLAs of the total 293 are Muslims. The election to the Falta assembly constituency will be conducted later this month. Of the 40, 34 are from the Trinamool Congress, two from Congress and one each from the Indian Secular Front and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Aam Janata Unnayan party founder Humayun Kabir has won from two constituencies. In Assam, which has about a 34% Muslim population according to the 2011 census, 22 elected MLAs are Muslim, of whom 18 are from the Congress.The remaining are from Raijor Dal (one), TMC (one), and AIUDF (two). The delimitation exercise in the state in 2023 reduced the number of Muslim majority seats in the state from 35 to 22, while keeping the total number of assembly seats unchanged at 126.In Kerala, where the Muslim population forms 26.5% of the state according to the 2011 Census, 35 MLAs are Muslims. Of the 35 elected Muslim MLAs, 30 are from the Congress-led UDF that won the assembly elections ousting the CPI(M)-led LDF after a decade. This includes Congress (eight), IUML (22), CPI(M) (four), and CPI (one).In Tamil Nadu, which has a Muslim population of 5.86%, seven out of the 234 new MLAs are Muslims. This includes the Congress and the TVK with one each, the Muslim League with two, and the DMK with three.None of the elected MLAs in Puducherry which has a 6.05% Muslim population are from the community.While the BJP has refused to provide effective political representation to Muslims, the party has accused the Congress of being “divisive.”In a statement on X, minority affairs minister Rijiju on Wednesday accused the leader of opposition and Congress MP of treating Muslims as “mere vote bank.”Rahul Gandhi Ji, this is the reason, so why blame others!! It’s the failure of your leadership. Respect Muslims & don’t treat Muslims as mere Vote Bank.18 out of 19 MLAs that Congress has won in Assam are Muslims. 18 of the 20 Muslims fielded by Congress have won. Only 1 out of… pic.twitter.com/kpDknQQoNM— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 6, 2026“It is clear that the only community that is assured of victory on a Congress ticket are the Muslims. Don’t be against Muslims but, do not become a Muslim League Party which is divisive!” he wrote.Earlier BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya too called the Congress the new “Muslim League.”In state assemblies, Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state where the BJP is in power, the BJP does not have a single MLA or MP from the community.In response, Congress’ Supriya Shrinate, the party’s chairperson of social media and digital platforms, has said that the total number of Congress MLAs is 664 of which about 78% are Hindus.Political representation is key in representative democracy, and the declining representation of Muslims is a cause for concern. However, it is not just the BJP which is behind the declining representation of Muslims.An analysis in The India Forum notes that while the 16th Lok Sabha witnessed a drop to 23 Muslim MPs from 30 in the 15th Lok Sabha, in the 18th Lok Sabha, 24 out of the 545 MPs are Muslims. None belong to the BJP.The analysis also noted that the Congress in 2024 did not nominate a single Muslim candidate in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, or Gujarat, other major opposition parties – the TMC, the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Nationalist Congress Party and the CPI (M) – together gave tickets to only 43 Muslim candidates in the 2024 elections.