In the Maharashtra assembly elections, Bhiwandi Samajwadi Party MLA and Candidate Raees Shaikh has stepped down from his position as the head of MVA manifesto committee due to a letter written by President and former CM Prithviraj Chauhan. In this letter, he criticized the Muslims Reservetion and emphasized its inclusion in the manifesto as I have discussed it. Also regarding the Love Jihad Committee. An investigation has been requested. He also mentioned in the letter the importance of allocating a budget of Rs. 10 thousand crores specifically for the Muslim community.
This request has been put forward to allocate funds for Muslims in the budget. MVA, which stands for Maha Vikas Aghadi, is trying hard to appeal to Muslim voters ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections. Maha Vikas Aghadi is a member of the All India Alliance, operating under the Congress Party’s guidance. Simultaneously, the Samajwadi Party is exerting all possible actions to attract these votes to support its party.
Muslim voters have a stronghold in 38 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra. The state has a combined total of 288 assembly seats. Approximately 40% of the population in 9 assembly constituencies are Muslims. More than 20% of Muslims are seated in 38 seats. Around half of the electorate in the Bhiwandi constituency are Muslims, prompting MLA Raees Sheikh to pen a letter and propose a measure to better accommodate them.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi, led by Congress, consists of seats from both Sharad Pawar’s faction and Shiv Sena. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav adopted a strong stance on this issue. He mentioned that we will do our utmost to stay within the alliance.
If the Maha Vikas Aghadi does not include us in the alliance, we will participate in elections in areas where our members are active. He had mentioned that we would run for elections in locations that do not negatively impact the alliance.