Why the 30% Muslim vote share is crucial in Bengal, explains Robin Roy Two leaders vouching for Muslim identity are in the assembly election frayâAIMIM boss and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi and the Furfura Darbar Sharif preacher Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui According to the 2011 Census, West Bengal had over 24.6 million Bengali Muslims, who formed 27.01 per cent of the population of the state. Bengali Muslims form the majority of the population in three districts -- Malda, Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur. The Bengali Muslim population in the state (West Bengal) soon after the Partition in 1947 was around 12 per cent. After Partition, some Bengali Muslims from West Bengal emigrated to East Pakistan (present-day-Bangladesh). However, the Muslim population of several West Bengal districts did grow between the decade of 1941-1951, despite the migration of two-thirds of a million people, to erstwhile East Pakistan.