After a successful Assembly elections in Bihar, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is now set to contest for the April-May 2021 polls in Tamil Nadu, where his dominant voter base – Muslims – form 5.86 percent of the population, according to the 2011 Census. Owaisi announced the party’s decision on Monday, 1 March.
Tamil Nadu will witness a multi-cornered contest, with the major players being the AIADMK-BJP on one side, and the DMK-Congress on the other. The Assembly polls are being held in a single phase on 6 April.
AIMIM is set to contest from Tamil Nadu in a first, and the party chief on Monday said, “We will contest Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Some of our candidates won in Gujarat local body polls. I’ll be going to Rajasthan today to review and speak with party members. Our party workers are also working hard in Uttar Pradesh,” quoted ANI.
22 Candidates Sent for Approval To AIMIM Chief
A final list of 22 candidates has been sent by AIMIM’s Tamil Nadu unit to the party supremo, 20 from Tamil Nadu, and 2 from Puducherry, reported The News Minute.
Vakeel Ahmed, the Tamil Nadu State President of the AIMIM stated, “Out of all these we have our strongholds in many areas and are confident of winning a minimum of 8 seats,” added the report.
Ahmed declared in the report that the party will confirm whether it will contest independently or part of an alliance within a day or two. The report added that the party is likely to not enter into an alliance with AIADMK if it continues its alliance with BJP.
Owaisi is yet to approve the state working committee meeting in Chennai, hosted by the party’s Tamil Nadu unit, to decide the further course of action including the seats, added the report.
AIMIM To Contest in Kolkata
West Bengal’s 294 Assembly seat elections is to begin from 27 March. The voting is to be held in eight phases till 29 April. following which the results will be declared on 2 May.
AIMIM is set to enter the West Bengal elections in a time when the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of Mamata Banerjee is locked in a bitter tussle against an emergent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marked by acrimonious campaigning and a string of defections. The Left-Congress alliance is also contesting the elections.
Owaisi, when asked about the Indian Secular Front’s (ISF) Abbas Siddiqui sharing the stage with the Left and Congress in a rally in Kolkata on Sunday, the AIMIM chief clarified that he would discuss his party’s strategy at the right time, reported ANI.
The Trinamool Congress had reacted strongly to Owaisi throwing in the hat for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s first rally in Kolkata, scheduled to be held on Thursday, 25 February, was cancelled after the Kolkata Police denied permission for it, the party has claimed.
The AIMIM has never contested elections in Bengal prior to this year, but clearly, it seems emboldened about its chances after it won five seats in Bihar's Seemanchal region, which borders Bengal.
With inputs from ANI and The News Minute
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