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AIMIM to contest 25-30 seats in Tamil Nadu

AIMIM to contest 25-30 seats in Tamil Nadu

Asaduddin OwaisiBy Gowtham K

Chennai: Bihar elections has surely given the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) renewed confidence as the party a  sizeable number of seats. The Muslim-centric party is now preparing to contest in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections next year.

After successfully contesting in the elections in Bihar, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had said that his party would not contest only in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, but also in the region where the MIM can become the voice of the voiceless.

Speaking to The News Minute, Vakeel Ahmed, the Tamil Nadu State President of the AIMIM, said that the party  contest about 25-30 seats.

”We will contest approximately 25 to 30 seats. In north Tamil Nadu, we have a stronghold. In Madurai, Krishnagiri, Vellore and Tirupattur we are getting good support. We had contested from the Vaniyambadi seat last time’ he added.

He said, “A survey is underway to identify where all we can fight and win.”

MIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi said that his party has not finalized the number of seats it will be contesting as yet.

When asked about a possible alliance in Tamil Nadu, he said, “The political equations in the state will be decided by the state unit of the party.”

Speaking about a possible alliance in Tamil Nadu, Vakeel Ahmed said, “We’re in talks with some political parties. The AIADMK is not even an option as it’s in an alliance with the BJP. A third front is also a possibility. We are in talks, everything will be revealed at the right time.”

 

AIMIM to contest 25-30 seats in Tamil Nadu

Crazy AIMIM die-hards still whipping the dead Congress horse

Asaduddin Owaisi

Asaduddin Owaisi

By Soroor Ahmed

In this Post-Modern world it is really difficult to argue with and convince those who are still living in the Stone Age. Almost a fortnight after  the announcement of Bihar Assembly election results the hard-core supporters of the AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen) are busy celebrating in the social media the defeat of secular parties, especially the Congress —the party which is out of power for the last 30 years in Bihar and which, with just fifty odd MPs, is tottering nation-wide.  What these ladies and gentlemen overlook is that AIMIM was itself a constituent of Grand Democratic ‘Secular’ Front.

If the word ‘secular’ has such a nauseating smell why have the leaders of AIMIM agreed to have this name and join hands with Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party whose track record–so far communal issues are concerned—is certainly worse than that of the main partner of the Grand Alliance, the Rashtriya Janata Dal.  Instead it would have been much better to vote for Janata Dal (United) candidates than that of the BSP and RLSP, which has absolutely no base whatsoever in Bihar—neither they will have in the future. The BSP under Mayawati is almost finished even in UP.

Why Alliance With RJD, TMC?

The strangest aspect is that these social media warriors of AIMIM are not blaming RJD much. In fact now its supremo Asaduddin Owaisi has come out with a fantastic story that  he wanted to have an alliance with the RJD. If this secular party is so bad why has Owaisi extended his hand of friendship—if he is really telling the truth– towards the RJD. The fact is that Owaisi is saying so now after he is being held responsible for the failure of Grand Alliance.

In this era of search engines it is really easy to detect lies.  Is not it the fact that it was way back on June 8 that is just a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s virtual rally for Bihar, that the state president of AIMIM Akhtar-ul- Iman had unilaterally announced that his party would contest on 32 seats. That was the high time of Corona Virus in Bihar and no party, save the BJP, had started preparation for polls.  So when did the AIMIM leadership call on RJD for alliance, it is for its leadership to explain?

The even bigger question is as to why will any party join hands with an outfit which has the potential to cause counter-polarisation.

Is not it the fact that after the by-poll victory in Bihar’s Kishanganj in October last year that the Bengal unit of the AIMIM had announced that the party would contest in all the 294 seats  there. If you make such announcement unilaterally 18 months before the poll schedule in May 2021 then do not expect to have an alliance and that too with the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Whipping A Dead Horse

Throughout the election campaign in Bihar and even after the result both Owaisi and Akhtar-ul-Iman kept accusing the Congress for the backwardness of Muslims and Seemanchal in the last 70 years. His blind followers flooded the social media with the similar allegations.  What they failed to appreciate is that the Congress has been out of power in Bihar for more than 30 years—in as many number of years in UP and 43 years in Bengal.

Bihar has been in the hands of Nitish Kumar-led NDA for the last 15 years. Nationally the Congress is out of power since 2014.

The last time the Congress was in power largely on its own was between 1991 and 1996 under Narasimha Rao. That was the time when Owaisi’s AIMIM  (then led by his father) had a good relationship with the Congress—even though Rao is still held responsible by many for the destruction of Babri Masjid. The common enemy of both the Congress and AIMIM in the then Andhra Pradesh was N T Rama Rao’s Telugu Desam Party—now headed by his son-in-law, Chandrababu Naidu.

When the Congress was really powerful the AIMIM was with it. But when the party got weak and Andhra Pradesh was heading for bifurcation Owaisi broke his two-decades long relationship with the Congress in 2012. What a strange way of befooling the people!

So during the recent Bihar poll, as a part of strategy, the AIMIM repeatedly targeted the Congress for its failure in the past, but hardly raised the larger problems the people, especially of Seemanchal where it was contesting, were facing after the post-lockdown period when millions of labours were rendered jobless, were harassed and thrashed by police and authorities while on way back home.

Is not it a fact that police brutally assaulted migrant labours at Katihar railway station, when they demanded bus to be sent to their respective towns and villages? Is not it a fact that a Muslim woman, while returning from Gujarat to Katihar, died on her way home and her body was brought down at the Muzaffarpur railway station?

The photograph of this woman with two kids sitting beside her attracted the global attention.

Katihar is no doubt the biggest town of Seemanchal yet those who have their stomachs full would like all these facts to be forgotten. Instead it is easy to blame those not in power for three long decades, and that too on social media. How long will they keep whipping an almost dead party and not take up the prevailing challenge?

 

( Soroor Ahmed is a senior journalist based in Patna)

Did Owaisi’s AIMIM Really Harm Secular Alliance in Bihar? An Analysis

Did Owaisi’s AIMIM Really Harm Secular Alliance in Bihar? An Analysis

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi at a election rally in Bihar

MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi at a election rally in Bihar

But AIMIM’s wait for victory in Bihar ended in October 2019 when the party opened its account in the state assembly by winning the Kishanganj seat

Mumtaz Alam | NEW DELHI

Despite massive crowds in rallies and favourable exit polls after voting, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led grand alliance or Mahagathbandhan (MGB) fell short of only 12 seats from the simple majority mark in the just-concluded elections to the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly while the ruling BJP-led NDA managed to retain power.

There is a perception that Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) directly or indirectly damaged the alliance. But does the result data support this charge? Here is an in-depth analysis:

AIMIM fielded 19 candidates, most of them in the four districts of eastern Bihar, popularly known as Seemanchal–Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia and Araria. Its candidates included 15 from the Muslim community, 2 from Scheduled Castes and 1 from Scheduled Tribes.

Out of these 19 seats, while MGB won 9 seats and NDA walked away with 5 seats, AIMIM also bagged 5 seats, its best performance ever in assembly polls outside Telangana.

Let’s first analyse the 5 seats won by NDA, including 3 by BJP. Did division of votes among non-NDA parties, including AIMIM, help NDA win those seats?

The table below shows that in all 5 seats won by NDA, the AIMIM was nowhere in the fight. In 3 seats, AIMIM got less than 3,000 votes and in 2 others it got less than 6,000 votes. NDA won all these seats directly, defeating MGB with a sizable margin of more than 15,000 votes in 3 constituencies.

The lowest victory margin for NDA (2,304 votes) was in the Raniganj (SC) reserved seat. Here, AIMIM’s Roshan Devi got 2,412 votes but some other smaller parties, and even NOTA, got more votes than AIMIM’s. The seat was won by BJP.

Another seat won by BJP with low margin was Pranpur in Katihar. The party won the seat by defeating Tauqeer Alam of the Congress with a margin of 2,972 votes. Here, AIMIM’s Hasan Mahmood Ahmad got just 508 votes while even an Independent candidate Ishrat Parween got 19,746 votes.

Division of Votes on Seats Won by NDA
Candidate Constituency (District) AIMIM Mahagathbandhan NDA Winner (Victory Margin)
Hadis Narpatganj(Araria) 5495 69787 (RJD) 98397 (BJP) BJP28610
Roshan Devi Raniganj (SC)(Araria) 2412 79597 (RJD) 81901 (JDU) JDU2304
Hasan Mahmood Ahmad Pranpur(Katihar) 508 77002 (Congress)Tauqeer Alam 79974 (BJP) BJP2972
Alam Chhatapur(Supaul) 1990 73120 (RJD) 93755 (BJP) BJP20635
Md. Moqeem Sahebganj(Muzaffarpur) 4055 65870 (RJD) 81203 (VIP) VIP15333

Let’s now move to the 5 seats won by AIMIM. Did Owaisi’s party win these seats by defeating MGB candidates?

The table below will make it clear that the AIMIM won 4 of these seats by directly defeating NDA candidates, not MGB, and with huge margins–the highest above 50,000 votes. It defeated 2 candidates of JDU and 1 each of BJP and VIP. On Jokihat seat, AIMIM defeated sitting MLA of RJD Sarfaraz Alam.

AIMIM got its biggest victory margin in Amour seat in Purnia district where party’s Bihar president Akhtarul Iman polled 94,459 votes and defeated Saba Zafar of JDU with a whopping 52,515-vote margin. Saba Zafar had won this seat as BJP’s lone Muslim candidate in the 2010 Bihar assembly polls–he had won the seat by defeating Abdul Jalil Mastan of the Congress with a margin of 18,828 votes. This time, Mastan finished on the third position.

It is interesting to know that in the 2015 assembly elections, JDU had won 2 of these 5 seats, the Congress 2 and RJD had won 1 seat. All the winners were Muslim faces. This time, Muslim faces of AIMIM have won these seats.

Vote Share on Seats won by AIMIM
Seat (District) AIMIM 1st Runner-up 2nd Runner-up Victory Margin-AIMIM Winner in 2015
Bahadurganj(Kishanganj) Md Anzar Nayeemi85855 votes Lakhan Lal Pandit (VIP)40640 votes Md. Tauseef Alam (Congress) 30204 votes 45215 votes Md. Tauseef Alam (Congress)
Kochadhaman(Kishanganj) Muhammad Izhar Asfi 79893 votes Mujahid Alam (JDU) 43750 votes Mohammad Shahid Alam (RJD) 26134 votes 36143 votes Mujahid Alam (JDU)
Jokihat(Araria) Shahnawaz59596 votes Sarfaraz Alam (RJD) 52213 votes Ranjit Yadav (BJP) 48933      votes 7383 votes Sarfraz Alam (JDU)
Baisi(Purnia) Syed Ruknuddin Ahmad 68416 votes Vinod Kumar (BJP) 52043 votes Abdus Subhan (RJD) 38254 votes 16373 votes Abdus Subhan (RJD)
Amour(Purnia) Akhtarul Iman94459 votes Saba Zafar (JDU) 41944 votes Abdul Jalil Mastan (Congress) 31863 votes 52515 votes Abdul Jalil Mastan (Congress)

In the October 2015 assembly polls in Bihar, Owaisi’s AIMIM had fielded six candidates. They together polled 80,248 votes. Five out of six candidates had forfeited their deposits. However, four years later, in May 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party fielded its state president Akhtarul Iman in Kishanganj and he got a record number of 2,95,029 votes but finished at No. 2. The seat was won by Congress candidate Dr Mohammad Jawaid.

Division of Votes on 19 Seats Contested by AIMIM
Candidate Constituency (District) AIMIM Mahagathbandhan NDA Winner (Victory Margin)
Mohammad Anzar Nayeemi Bahadurganj(Kishanganj) 85855 30204 (Congress) 40640 (VIP) AIMIM 45215
Muhammad Izhar Asfi Kochadhaman(Kishanganj) 79893 26134 (RJD) 43750 (JDU) AIMIM 36143
Md. Qamrul Hoda Kishanganj(Kishanganj) 41904 61078 (Congress) 59697 (BJP) Congress 1381 M
Mahbub Alam Thakurganj(Kishanganj) 18925 79909 (RJD) 22082 (JDU) RJD23887 M
Shahnawaz Jokihat(Araria) 59596 52213 (RJD) 48933 (BJP) AIMIM7383
Hadis Narpatganj(Araria) 5495 69787 (RJD) 98397 (BJP) BJP28610
Roshan Devi Raniganj (SC)(Araria) 2412 79597 (RJD) 81901 (JDU) JDU2304
Md. Rashid Answer Araria(Araria) 8924 103054 (Congress) 55118 (JDU) Congress 47936 M
Hasan Mahmood Ahmad Pranpur(Katihar) 508 77002 (Congress)Tauqeer Alam 79974 (BJP) BJP2972
Goreti Murmu Manihari (ST)(Katihar) 2475 83032 (Congress) 61823 (JDU) Congress 21209
Syed Ruknuddin Ahmad Baisi(Purnia) 68416 38254 (RJD) 52043 (BJP) AIMIM 16373
Akhtarul Iman Amour(Purnia) 94459 31863 (Congress) 41944 (JDU) AIMIM 52515
Md Shahbaz Alam Kasba(Purnia) 5316 77410 (Congress) 60132 (LJP) Congress17278
Rizwanullah Sikta(Paschim Champaran) 8519 49075      (CPI-ML(L)) 35798 (JDU) CPI-ML(L)2302
Alam Chhatapur(Supaul) 1990 73120 (RJD) 93755 (BJP) BJP20635
Md. Moqeem Sahebganj(Muzaffarpur) 4055 65870 (RJD) 81203 (VIP) VIP15333
Gore Lal Ray Sahebpur Kamal(Begusarai) 7933 64888 (RJD) 50663 (JDU) RJD14225
Kumari Pratibha Phulwari (SC)(Patna) 5019 91124 (CPI-ML(L)) 77267 (JDU)
Bihar Results: 19 Muslim Candidates Win, 5 Less from 2015, Even as AIMIM Wins 5 Seats

Bihar Results: 19 Muslim Candidates Win, 5 Less from 2015, Even as AIMIM Wins 5 Seats

owaisi in BiharAmong the Muslim winners, 8 are from RJD, 5 from AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi, 4 from Congress and 1 each from BSP and CPI-ML(L)

Mumtaz Alam | New Delhi

Even though the All India Majlis-e Ittehadul Muslimeen or AIMIM added a new chapter to its history on Tuesday when it won five Assembly seats in Bihar, its highest number ever outside Hyderabad, the overall strength of Muslim MLAs in the new Assembly went down by five compared to the 2015 Assembly elections.

The counting of votes that began at 8 a.m. on Tuesday continued till late night. As per the results available on the website of the Election Commission of India by 11 PM, as many as 19 Muslim candidates from different parties were either declared winner or were leading.

Among the Muslim winners, 8 are from RJD, 5 from AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi, 4 from Congress and 1 each from BSP and CPI-ML(L).

RJD, Congress and three left parties – CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML(L) had fought this poll together.

Muslim Winners in Bihar Assembly Elections 2020
Name Constituency Party – Victory Margin Runner-up
Akhtarul Iman Amour AIMIM – 52515 JDU
Abidur Rahman Araria Congress – 47936 JDU
Md Anzar Nayeemi Bahadurganj AIMIM – 34097 VIP
Syed Ruknuddin Ahmed Baisi AIMIM – 16373 BJP
Mahboob Alam Balrampur CPI-ML(L) – 53597 VIP
Md Zaman Khan Chainpur BSP – 24294 BJP
Md Kamran Gobindpur RJD – 33074 JDU
Shahnawaz Jokihat AIMIM – 7383 RJD
Shakeel Ahmed Khan Kadwa Congress – 25569 LJP
Md Israil Mansuri Kanti RJD – 10314 IND
Md Afaque Alam Kasba Congress – 17278 LJP
Izharul Hussain Kishanganj Congress – 3858 BJP
Md Izhar Asfi Kochadhaman AIMIM – 36143 JDU
Shamim Ahmed Narkatia RJD – 27791 JDU
Ali Ashraf Siddiqui Nathnagar RJD – 7756 JDU
Mohammad Nehaluddin Rafiganj RJD – 9429 IND
Akhtarul Islam Shaheen Samastipur RJD – 4714 JDU
Yusuf Salahuddin Simri Bakhtiarpur RJD – 1767 VIP
Saud Alam Thakurganj RJD – 23887 IND

Updated at: 11 PM, November 10

In the 2015 Assembly elections, 24 Muslim candidates from different parties had won – 12 of them were from RJD, 6 from Congress, 5 from JDU ticket and 1 on the ticket of CPI-ML(L).

In 2015, JDU was part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan but this time it contested as alliance partner of BJP. Though JDU had fielded around one dozen Muslim candidates in this election, yet none could win.

The 2015 performance of minority candidates was their best since the February 2005 Assembly polls.

Muslim Representation in Bihar Assembly (2005-2020)
Party-wise Muslim MLAs
2005 (Feb) 2005 (Oct) 2010 2015 2020
Party Tally
RJD 75 10 54 — 04 22 — 06 80 — 12
JDU 55 04 88 — 04 115 — 07 71 — 05
Congress 10 03 09 — 04 04 — 03 27 — 06
NCP 03 02 01 — 01
CPIML 07 01 05 — 01 03 — 01
BSP 02 01
SP 04 01
LJP 10 — 01 03 — 02
BJP 91 — 01
IND 17 01 10 — 01
Total   23     16 19 24

As for overall tally of political parties, RJD has emerged as the single largest party with 76 seats (results of 60 declared) followed by BJP with 73 seats. While JDU has won or are leading on 43 seats, Congress could win only 19 seats. As a pre-poll alliance, BJP-JDU alliance has almost crossed the magic figure of 122 while RJD-led alliance may get 112 seats. By 11:25 PM, ECI had declared the results of only 188 seats out of total 243.

AIMIM legislator to be Pro-tem Speaker of Telangana Assembly

AIMIM legislator to be Pro-tem Speaker of Telangana Assembly

AIMIM legislator to be Pro-tem Speaker of Telangana AssemblyHyderabad : Mumtaz Ahmed Khan of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will be the Pro-tem speaker of the newly-elected Telangana Assembly, whose first session will commence on January 17.

Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, the senior most member of the Assembly, will take oath as Pro-tem Speaker on January 16.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan will administer the oath to Khan, who represents Charminar constituency.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said on Saturday that against the background of the landslide victory given by the people to his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), it has been decided to commence the Assembly proceedings during the auspicious ‘Uttarayana’ days.

The Assembly session, beginning on ‘Ekadasi’, will continue till January 20.

On the first day, the newly elected MLAs will take oath one after another and the programme is likely to continue for about two hours, according to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.

The same day, the schedule of election to the Speaker will be announced and the nomination process will commence.

The next day, the Speaker’s election will take place. Later, the Speaker will conduct the Business Advisory Council (BAC) meeting which will take a decision on the Governor’s address on the following day.

On January 19, the Governor will address the House.

The next day the House will introduce motion of thanks to the Governor’s address and adopt the same.

—IANS