Congress' Imran Khedawala lone Muslim MLA in new Gujarat Assembly

Mr. Khedawala, the sitting Congress MLA from the Jamalpur-Khadia seat in Ahmedabad city, won the election by a margin of 13,658 votes to retain the seat

Imran Khedawala of the Congress is the only Muslim candidate elected to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly in the just concluded polls, which saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) register a landslide victory.

The outgoing Assembly had three Muslim legislators, all from the Congress.

Mr. Khedawala, the sitting Congress MLA from the Jamalpur-Khadia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad city, won the election by a margin of 13,658 votes on December 8 to retain the seat.

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He defeated his nearest rival, Bhushan Bhatt of the BJP, in the Muslim majority constituency, where state president of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and former MLA Sabir Kabliwala was also in the fray.

The Congress had fielded six Muslim candidates, including three siting MLAs. Of these, five candidates, including two MLAs, lost.

In 2017, three of five candidates from the minority community fielded by the main Opposition party had emerged victorious. Muslims account for around 10% of Gujarat's population.