The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were announced on 04 June 2024. The BJP won 240 seats, becoming the single largest party. The BJP-led NDA coalition secured 293 seats and formed the government on 09 June 2024. Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India for the third consecutive term. In this context, a post claiming that a total of 110 Muslim candidates were elected as Members of Parliament in the recent 2024 Lok Sabha elections is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). The post further asserts that the number of Muslim MPs has been increasing over the years. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in this post.
Claim: In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 110 Muslims were elected as Members of Parliament.
Fact: Only 24 Muslims were elected as MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. According to data provided on the Election Commission of India’s website, a total of 78 Muslim candidates contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from major parties, and 24 were elected as MPs. Of the 24 Muslim MPs, 21 are from parties in the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc. The Congress has nine Muslim MPs, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with five, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with four, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with two, and the National Conference (NC) with one. The unaffiliated AIMIM boasts one Muslim MP, and there are also two Muslims who won as independents. Meanwhile, the ruling NDA does not have a single Muslim MP. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the veracity of the viral claim, we visited the Election Commission of India’s website and examined the 2024 Lok Sabha election results. After analyzing the results of all 543 parliamentary constituencies, we noticed that only 24 Muslim candidates were elected as MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. We also noted that a total of 78 Muslim candidates contested in these elections from the major parties. Of the 24 Muslim MPs, 21 are from parties in the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc. The Congress has nine Muslim MPs, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) with five, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with four, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with two, and the National Conference (NC) with one. The unaffiliated AIMIM boasts one Muslim MP (Asaduddin Owaisi himself), and there are also two Muslims who won as independents (Engineer Rashid from Baramulla and Mohammad Haneefa from Ladakh). The ruling NDA does not have a single Muslim MP. Below is a list of all 24 Muslim MPs of the 18th Lok Sabha.
During this search, we also found several news articles (here and here) about the number of Muslims elected as MPs in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to these reports, only 24 Muslims were elected to the Lok Sabha this year, two fewer than in 2019. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 26 Muslims were elected as MPs. These reports also mention that Muslims now account for only 4.42% of the Lok Sabha’s total strength, the second-lowest share of all time. The 2014 polls saw the lowest Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha at 22. After a record 49 Muslim MPs were elected in 1980 (9.04% of the House), and 45 Muslim MPs (8.3% of the House) were elected in 1984, the number of Muslims in Lok Sabha has never crossed 40. In the last three Lok Sabha elections, the proportion of Muslim MPs has dropped below 5% though the share of Muslims in the overall population stands at 14%, as per the 2011 Census. The number of Muslim MPs elected in the 2009, 2014, 2019, and 2024 general elections are 28, 23, 26, and 24 respectively.
To sum it up, 78 Muslim candidates contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from major parties and 24 were elected as MPs.
