Muslim votes divided between AIMIM, VBA and Uddhav Sena

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The results of the Aurangabad Lok Sabha Constituency was declared on June 4. However, it has been observed that the division of Muslim votes was apparent at 400 polling stations between AIMIM candidate Imtiaz Jaleel and Uddhav Sena candidate Chandrakant Khaire in the city area. As a result, both of them had to taste defeat in the LS 2024 polls.

It has been observed that AIMIM candidate polled votes from Hindu belts. This reduced the voting percentage of Khaire.

The winning Mahayuti candidate Sandipan Bhumare procured votes of Maratha, OBC, Brahmin and other electors including Muslims and Dalits. This is the reason why he won with a lead of 1.34 lakh votes. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate Afsar Khan also changed the equation by polling 69,266 votes.

The increase in votes at 700 polling booths in six assembly constituencies compared to last election proved to game changer. Majority of booths recorded more than 80 per cent voting percentage. All three major candidates polled votes from these booths.

Support to Jaleel in city; Bhumare in rural

A total of 6.53 lakh votes was casted on May 13 in the city. Of which, Khaire polled 1.40 lakh; Bhumare got 2.18 lakh and Imtiaz got 2.29 lakh votes. Besides, 6.45 lakh voting was franchised from the rural parts of the district. Of which, Khaire got 1.51 lakh; Bhumare secured 2.57 lakh and Imtiaz got 1.22 lakh votes.

There are around 400 polling stations having dense population of Muslim voters in the three constituencies of the city. Hence there were 70 booths where more than 80 per cent voting was recorded. These votes got divided into Khaire and Imtiaz.

Besides, there are 695 booths, out of 995, in the city where there is dense population of Hindu and Dalit voters. Hence 80 per cent booths cast their vote for Bhumare. In rural part of the district, there were 1,025 polling booths, out of which 400 booths recorded more than 800 per cent voting. It includes polling booths from Gangapur, Vaijapur and Kannad constituencies which were the stronghold of Bhumare. There were 2,040 booths in the Lok Sabha constituency.

Meanwhile, the career of Khaire has come to an end, while AIMIM candidate is left with no choice but to try for assembly election to prove his existence. It may be noted Bhumare got ‘zero’ votes from 20 booths in the Aurangabad East constituency. However, he got good votes from 15 booths in Aurangabad Central and from every booth in Aurangabad West constituencies respectively. Khaire got votes from all the booths. He got votes from booths in Muslim areas as well. Hence the division of votes between Khaire and Imtiaz Jaleel affected the results.