Lokmat News Network Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The picture is nearly clear for the assembly elections in the Aurangabad Central constituency, as all four major parties have announced their candidates. The AIMIM party has made a significant political move by fielding Nasser Siddiqui, defeated in 2019, at the last moment. Earlier, political experts had predicted that the party's state president, Imtiaz Jaleel, would contest the elections himself.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate, Javed Qureshi, was the first to announce his candidacy from this constituency. Following him, the sitting MLA from Shinde Sena, Pradeep Jaiswal, and Uddhav Sena's Kishanchand Tanwani announced their candidacies. On Friday, AIMIM's president Asaduddin Owaisi unexpectedly declared Siddiqui's name on social media, making the electoral battle in this constituency clearer.
In 2014, the constituency witnessed a multi-coloured contest, benefiting Imtiaz Jaleel due to vote splitting. In 2019, the contest was direct between Pradeep Jaiswal and Nasser Siddiqui, with Jaiswal emerging victorious. The VBA factor also made its mark in the last elections, with Amit Bhuigad garnering a significant 27,000 votes. This year, VBA has fielded Javed Qureshi, whose influence is expected to be important.
Where will Jaleel contest from?
Political experts believed that Jaleel would try his luck from the Central constituency since he had taken the nomination form for it. However, the declaration of Siddiqui’s name today afternoon, left many puzzled about AIMIM's strategy. Now, Jaleel has taken nomination forms for the Aurangabad East and Vaijapur constituencies, and all eyes are on where he will ultimately contest.