Minorities find fewer names in party lists

New Delhi: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress having almost finalised their candidates for the assembly elections in six states, there is a common thread in their lists - low representation for Muslims and Christians.

There are a total of 627 seats in the six states.

Of the 449 candidates the BJP has declared so far, eight are Christian contestants, all of them from Mizoram. There are 28 Muslim candidates, of whom 25 are from Jammu and Kashmir.

The other three are from Rajasthan. Eighty per cent of the population in Mizoram is Christian while Muslims form most of the population in Kashmir.

The Congress fares a shade better, having given 53 tickets to Muslims and 42 to Christians, out of the 610 nominations it has announced. The party has given two tickets to Buddhists.

Like the BJP, all but four of the 42 Christian candidates of the Congress are to contest the assembly elections in Mizoram. The state has 40 seats. The other four are divided equally between Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.