Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: Surat Muslims warns Congress to give poll tickets or face backlash

Banners have surfaced at several places of the old city of Surat warning the Congress to face backlash if it doesn't allocate tickets to the members of the Muslim community. 

Warning said that the Congress would not get any Muslim votes if it was ignored in the time of ticket distribution in the upcoming election. 
Surat-East currently belongs to BJP's Ranjit Gilitwala who had defeated Kadir Pirzada, a senior Congress leader in the 2012 assembly elections by a margin of 15,700 votes.   

According to local Congress leader Firoz Malek, who is said to be one of the strong contenders for the seat, Muslim youths feel that despite their dedication and commitment to the party, the Congress might not give ticket to a Muslimnominee from Surat-East.

According to the Gujarat State Congress, it has a "golden chance" this time to defeat the BJP in Surat-East with a combination of Muslim, Vohra and Dalit votes.

Of the total 2.4 lakh votes in the segment, Muslims comprise around 84,000, while Vohras and Dalits number about3,500 and 14,000, respectively, he said, adding all of them are with the Congress. 

The Congress is expected to announce its first list of candidates within the next two days. The Assembly elections inGujarat will be held on December 9 and 14.