AIMIM will contest LS elections from UP, Bihar, Maharashtra: Owaisi

A day after after the Election Commission of India released the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi announced his party will field candidates in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar.

Owaisi said he will contest the Hyderabad constituency, while Imtiaz Ali will contest the Aurangabad constituency in Maharashtra and Aktanul Iman will be fielded from Kishanganj in Bihar. Apart from these, the AIMIM leader said that they are holding consultation with the party leaders of the respective states to contest more seats in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. The candidates will be announced soon, he added.

AIMIM, popularly also known as Majlis party, claims to represent Muslims of the country. The party has two sitting MPs, including Owaisi and Jameel Ahmed Khan from Aurangabad. Owaisi claims that his party will win more seats, apart from Hyderabad and Aurangabad, in this elections. No matter what happens in the country, Owaisi said he is raising his voice on behalf of Muslims.

The AIMIM leader also announced his intention to expand the Majlis party across the country. It has seven MLAs, one MP, 67 corporators and 70 councillors in Telangana. Owaisi said his party is planning to contest, in addition to Aurangabad, North Mumbai, Dule, Nanded, Bhiwandi and Chhatrapati Shambhajinagar seats in Maharashtra.

Splitting the Muslim votes

Though the party has over the years increased its electoral footprints, it is accused of splitting Muslim votes and indirectly helping the BJP, to the chagrin of mainstream political parties.

In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, for instance, AIMIM fielded candidates in 20 seats and won only five. In the year 2019 assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Majlis contested 44 seats but won only two. AIMIM contested seven seats in the last West Bengal assembly elections and three in Tamil Nadu, but failed to make any mark in both states. While claiming that the party is working for the weaker sections, the AIMIM chief has brought non-Muslims into the election ring in some states.

One instance which gives fodder to Owaisi’s detractors is the 2023 Telangana assembly elections. The AIMIM leader did not field any candidate against BJP candidate Raja Singh, who contested the Goshamahal assembly constituency and won, even though the seat falls under his parliamentary constituency of Hyderabad. However, Owaisi fielded a candidate against Mohammed Azharuddin, a Congress candidate, from the Jubilee Hills assembly constituency and the former cricketer lost the election.

Helping the BJP indirectly

Mohammad Mujahid, a senior journalist from Old Basti, said there has been resentment among the Muslims against the AIMIM leader.

Although AIMIM has earlier contested assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, it has failed to make any impact. In the 2017 assembly elections, AIMIM contested 38 seats but its candidates lost their deposits in 37 seats. Similarly, in the 2022 assembly elections, none of its candidates, out of 100 it had fielded in the state, crossed the 5,000 vote mark. The party got only 0.43 percent votes. It has been alleged that Owaisi indirectly contributed to the BJP's victory by splitting the Samajwadi Party's votes in Uttar Pradesh.