Asaduddin Owaisi's party makes its debut in Maharashtra, wins two seats
In its first attempt to expand outside Hyderabad and have a pan-India presence, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party bagged the prestigious Byculla seat in Mumbai and the Aurangabad Central and East seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
The Hyderabad-based Majlis-e-Ittihadul Muslimeen or MIM staged a coup in Maharashtra by winning two seats, stunning its rivals in a free-for-all contest.
In its first attempt to expand outside Hyderabad and have a pan-India presence, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party bagged the prestigious Byculla seat in Mumbai and the Aurangabad Central and East seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
In Byculla, the party's Warish Yusuf Pathan bagged 25,314 votes, trouncing BJP strongman Madhukar G Chavan and Akhil Bharatiya Sena's Geeta Gawli, wife of former don Arun Gawli.
TV journalist-turned-politician Imtiyaz Jalil was elected from Aurangabad Central, defeating his nearest Shiv Sena rival Pradeep Jaiswal by 30,000 votes.
In Aurangabad East, the MIM's Dr Abdul Gaffar Qadri lost by a slender margin while the state MIM chief Syed Moeen finished third in Nanded. The party had fielded 24 candidates and backed an independent.
A key political force in Hyderabad, MIM has seven legislators in 119-member Telangana Assembly. It has also been dominating the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for last three decades. Asaduddin Owaisi was re-elected to Parliament for the third consecutive term in May.
Scores of supporters of the party celebrated the victory at Darussalam, the party headquarters in Mumbai. A stream of workers and supporters were seen congratulating the MIM chief and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, who aggressively campaigned in Mumbai and parts of Marathwada.
The MIM leaders felt it was a big achievement for the party considering that it did not have any organisational structure in the state and majority of its candidates were political novices.
"It is a good beginning. We will now build on this victory and expand the party to other states," a senior party leader told IANS. He said the results reflect the disillusionment of Muslims with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
"The Congress-NCP alliance was in power for 15 years but did nothing for the development of Muslims. It even failed to protect the community. In fact, Muslim youths were arrested and tortured after blasts in Malegaon in which right-wing fundamentalist groups were involved," the leader said.
He pointed out that the condition of Muslims, who constitute over 13 percent of the state's population, went from bad to worse during the last 15 years. "The Muslims were looking for an alternative so that their voice can be heard in the legislature and the MIM provided them the platform," said another leader.
The MIM, revived by Asaduddin's grandfather Abdul Wahid Owaisi with a new constitution after the merger of Hyderabad State with the Indian Union, performed well in the Assembly elections in Telangana. It also contested few seats in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, but could not open its account.