Meet 6 Non-Muslims from Owaisi's AIMIM Who Won Maharashtra Municipal Polls
Three of the six non-Muslim candidates from AIMIM were from Sambhajinagar.
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At least six non-Muslim candidates have been elected on the ticket of Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in the recently concluded Municipal Corporation elections in Maharashtra.
The AIMIM had emerged a surprise winner in the election, securing over 120 seats across different cities in the state, ahead of prominent Maharashtra parties like the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
In at least six seats - three in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar), two in Nagpur and one in Mumbai - the party's non-Muslim candidates emerged victorious.
Aurangabad (Sambhaji Nagar)
Aurangabad emerged as one of the major successes for the AIMIM as it stood in second place in the city, behind only the BJP. The party won 33 seats, an improvement over its previous tally of 25.
Two of these candidates happen to be non-Muslims. Kakasaheb Kakde was elected from Ward No. 9 that is reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. Kakde has been associated with AIMIM since many years now.
Ashok Ranganath Hiwrale won from Ward No. 1. Another winner from Ward No. 1 was Vijayshree Jadhav.
Both Kakde and Hiwrale also head workers' unions in Aurangabad.
Aurangabad has been the centre of AIMIM's 'Jai Bhim, Jai Mim' politics - that is its attempts to unite Muslim and Dalit voters.
The performance comes as a major boost for the AIMIM, especially its Maharashtra chief Imtiyaz Jaleel who lost by a narrow margin in the 2024 Assembly elections.
Nagpur
In Nagpur, the AIMIM won six seats. Two of these happened to be non-Muslims - Pawan Koye and Varsha Dongre - both of whom won from reserved wards. Koye won from a ward reserved for ST candidates.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) also won six seats in Nagpur, staging a comeback after 14 years. One of its winners was a non-Muslim.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
The AIMIM won eight seats in Mumbai, a majority of which were in Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and Anushakti Nagar Assembly seats that are adjacent to each other. One of its winners, Vijay Ubale, won from Ward 140 in Govandi-Shivaji Nagar area. An MSc in Mathematics, he is an educator and belongs to the Dalit community.
Why is this Significant?
Hindu and Buddhist candidates winning under AIMIM and IUML tickets is significant because both parties have the word 'Muslim' in their names and yet they have been giving representation to non-Muslim candidates. In contrast, the BJP makes a virtue out of not giving tickets to Muslims.
According to Imtiaz Jaleel, the results are proof that "the AIMIM's base has expanded beyond Muslims, with Hindus, including SCs and STs, backing AIMIM candidates".
He gave the example of Gulmandi ward in Sambhaji Nagar where the AIMIM emerged victorious even though it used to be a "BJP-Sena bastion".