Year: 2026 | Month: June | Volume 14 | Issue 1
Electoral Arithmetic, Identity Politics, and Muslim Political Representation under India’s First-Past-the-Post System
Mahfooz Alam1 and Amir Hussain2*
DOI:10.30954/2454-9525.01.2026.5
Abstract :
Indian Muslims continue to experience persistent political marginalization despite sustained electoral participation. Unlike other historically disadvantaged groups; SCs, STs, and OBCs, Muslims were excluded from political reservation, while the First-Past-the-Post system further constrains minority representation in the absence of proportional representation. The historical burden of Partition in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh continues to shape Muslim political vulnerability within India’s majoritarian framework. Empirically, Muslim representation in Parliament has remained awfully low, with the exceptional Seventh General Election of 1980 around 49 MPs. This paper argues that the recent turn towards Muslim identity-based parties under FPTP fragments opposition votes, unintentionally strengthening BJP (NDA). Drawing on constituency-level patterns of Muslim concentration and ghettoization, the paper proposes that strategic political integration within non-communal or secular parties offers a more viable route to legislative representation than electoral separatism.
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
