Bengal elects 8 Muslim MPs

Kolkata, May 18 (IANS) While the representation of Muslims in the 16th Lok Sabha will be the lowest at 23, West Bengal with eight elected members from the community leads the country.

The 16th Lok Sabha with 23 Muslim MPs has seven less than the outgoing house. Bengal has increased its tally by one.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has the most number of Muslims MPs in Bengal at four, followed by the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) with two each.

Of the four Trinamool members from the community, Arambagh MP Aparupa Poddar accepted Islam after her marriage and is now known as Afreen Ali but her name is yet to be changed in government documents.

The other Trinamool members are Idris Ali (Basirhat), Sultan Ahmed (Uluberia) and Mumtaz Sanghamita (Burdwan-Durgapur).

The CPI-M members are Badaruddoza Khan (Murshidabad) and Mohammad Salim (Raiganj) while the two Congress members are Mausam Noor (Maldaha Uttar) and Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury (Maldaha Dakshin).