Since 1950, in all elections the Muslim community has always supported the formation of a secular, stable and strong government at the Centre and in the states, but right from 1947 persistently it has been under-represented in the legislatures. Also the community has felt growingly disenchanted with the post-election performance of secular parties and their Muslim legislators. Today, therefore, the primary interest of the community is not only to raise its representation in the legislature with at least some vocal, fearless independent legislators so that its legitimate aspirations and interests are voiced and pursued systematically.

The Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations for Empowerment (JCMOE) has since 2009 suggested active participation of the Muslim electorate at the constituency level in selecting candidates and/or parties to support with the primary objective of improving the quality and dependability of Muslim representation in national and state legislatures.

The JCMOE recalls with regret the oft-tested failure of the Muslim legislators to project the feelings and wishes of the community at the national or even state level. The reason behind the dissatisfactory performance of the Muslim legislators lies in the their personal and political loyalty to the parties they belong to and in their faithful support to the their political line which makes them disinclined even to raise its legitimate expectation for equal participation in governance and sharing equal benefits of development at various levels. Indeed they remain silent even in situations of denial of equality and justice.

It is also a fact in the light of experience that because of diverse factors, effective unity of the Muslim political groups on the eve of the election cannot be achieved at the state or national level. Muslim voters at  the constituency level can be united in favour of a common candidate chosen through participation and consultation of all who matter.

Both under-representation and its quality are relevant. The secular parties do not field proportionate number of acceptable Muslim candidates from winnable Muslim constituencies and also because participation of Muslim voters in the election is often less than average. Also, several secular parties contest against each other apart from Muslim candidates of small parties, sometimes funded by vested interests, thus dividing the Muslim vote.

In view of the above, the JCMOE has revised the Guidelines in depth on the eve of the UP Assembly Elections for 2012 particularly because UP is the major state going to polls, has the biggest Muslim population of all states with 18 percent in the electorate, with decisive influence in more than a quarter of the 403 constituencies and it has at least 35 percent Muslims in 46 constituencies.

The JCMOE appeals to the Muslim electorate to build on its electoral assets and take all possible steps.

1. To register all eligible voters and to vote massively, particularly, women and youth, to raise their turnout above the average and thus increase their effective political weight in every constituency;
2. To strive for Muslim unity at the constituency level, rising above party affiliations or religious or sectarian considerations and chose a winnable candidate by common agreement who is reliable, capable and vocal and reputed to have a secular background;
3. To vote unitedly for the agreed candidate, as the most acceptable candidate of the community.

1. Muslim electorate faces no dilemma when there is only one secular candidate of a secular party pitted against one or more communal parties but when there are more than one secular parties in the constituency, it must carefully select one of them through wide consultations;
2. For this purpose, the local community should from a Constituency Consultation Committee (CCC) consisting of a representative cross-section of distinguished local personalities who have knowledge, experience and political understanding but are not associated with any political party. This CCC should have ulama, academics, retired officials, former legislators, youth leaders and social activists and representatives of eminent Muslim organizations and institutions. The CCC formed by the consultation among community leaders should elect a Chairman;
3. The Committee should interview all important candidates in the field or even arrange public debates among them and interaction with the Muslim voters in different parts of the Constituency;
4. The Committee should take the following points in consideration in evaluating the quality of the candidates:
i. Whether the candidate and/or his party has generally supported Muslim causes in the past or supports their major aspirations like reservation in the current election;
ii. Whether the candidate and/or his party has taken up situations of Muslim concern and distress in legislatures or with the party;
iii. Whether their social base and general support makes them relatively more winnable;
iv. Whether they are known and generally acceptable to the Muslim voters;
v. Whether they are acceptable to the non-Muslim voters;
vi. Whether the party has fielded adequate number of Muslim candidates in the state, the names of the constituencies, their popularity and reputation in UP  the proportionate claim of Muslims is 73 out of 403.

I. The CCC should request all Muslim organizations, institutions and influential citizens particularly academicians and journalists to actively support full reservation as the first political objective at present. The CCC should issue a written appeal to the electors to emphasize Reservation as the master-key to Social Justice, Democratic Governance, Inclusive Development and Empowerment and to work for the success of the common candidate by all means at their disposal;
II. The CCC should request the Imams of local masjids and heads of local madrasas and other educational institutions to support the common acceptable candidate;
III. The CCC should brief mass media on the procedure followed in selecting the common agreed candidate and reason for selection;
IV. The CCC should advise candidates to use all modern media for publicity like phone calls, e-mail, social networking site like Facebook etc and motivate the voters during the campaign and on the polling date.

A. In seats with less than 20 percent Muslim electorate, Muslims should vote for the most winnable candidates of a secular party;
B. In  constituencies with 20-30 percent Muslim votes, it should vote for most winnable candidate of a secular party but preferably a Muslim;
C. In high concentration or Muslim majority seats, it should vote for the most winnable Muslim candidate who may be independent, and belongs to most numerous Muslim beradaris in the constituency.

It is expected that these Guidelines will serve the purpose of uniting the Muslim voters at the Constituency level, ensure massive turnout and united voting for common candidates and electing a more dependable representative in the UP Assembly.