Only one Muslim candidate wins MP Assembly polls

Bhopal: Only one Muslim candidate has emerged as the winner of the six who contested in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls. Arif Aqueel of Congress retained the Bhopal (North) assembly constituency seat fifth time in a row by trouncing former union minister Arif Baig of BJP by more than 6,000 votes. Aqueel got 73,070 votes against 66,406 polled by Baig.

From Bhopal (Central) constituency, Congress had fielded Arif Masood, but he was unable to defeat Surendra Nath Singh of BJP, who won by a margin by around 6,000 votes. While the BJP had fielded only one Muslim candidate (Arif Baig), who was defeated and the Congress had five Muslim contestants, four of whom lost the battle. The last (13th) Madhya Pradesh assembly also had only one Muslim member.