Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
To avoid the division of Muslim votes, the AIMIM party fielded only 15 candidates across the state. The party adopted a strategy of putting up fewer candidates to maximise its chances of winning. To achieve this, party leader MP Asaduddin Owaisi worked hard in the Aurangabad Central and East Assembly constituencies. However, except for Malegaon, the party was unable to win in any other constituency. In the city, the Shinde Sena and BJP completely wiped out the AIMIM.
The AIMIM party achieved its greatest success in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city between 2014 and 2019. In 2014, in the very first Assembly election, Imtiaz Jaleel was elected. After that, in the 2015 municipal corporation elections, 24 corporators were elected. In 2019, Jaleel contested the Lok Sabha elections and also achieved success. The party continued to win one victory after another, which boosted the morale of the leaders. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Jaleel faced a significant defeat. As a result, in the Assembly elections this year, the party focused its attention on just the Aurangabad Central and East constituencies.
The party's leader, Akbaruddin Owaisi, held a historic rally at Amkhas Maidan. Seeing the overwhelming response to the rally, it was believed by all that both candidates would win. After that, MP Asaduddin Owaisi was holding smaller rallies in both constituencies, drawing huge crowds. His padyatras started receiving a positive response. In the final phase of campaigning, Akbaruddin Owaisi conducted a roadshow for the East and Central constituencies. The response to that was also remarkable. However, on election day, the effort to achieve 100% Muslim voter turnout failed. As a result, in the East constituency, AIMIM candidate was defeated by just 2,161 votes, and in the Central constituency, by 8,119 votes. In the state, only the candidate from Malegaon won. The incumbent MLA, Mufti Mohammad Ismail, also won by a narrow margin of just 75 votes. The other 14 candidates from AIMIM faced defeat along with the one supported by it.