TNN, New Delhi :
The representation of Muslims in this Lok Sabha will be the lowest since the first general election of 1952. The 16th Lok Sabha will have just 24 Muslim MPs, down from 30 in the 15th. That translates to 4.4% of the strength of the House.
Muslims constituted 4.3% of the first Lok Sabha in 1952, but their proportion has hovered between five and six per cent for the last quarter of a century after dropping from a high of 9.3% or 49 members in the LS elected in the 1980 elections.
The incoming House will have no Muslim MPs from Uttar Pradesh, a first. It will also not have any from Maharashtra, a large state with a substantial Muslim population.
