MIM vote share drops, it’s turning into just a spoiler

MUMBAI: When new entrant Majlise Ittihadul Muslimeen (MIM) won two seats (Byculla and Hyderabad Central) and performed well in half a dozen of the 24 seats it contested in last year’s assembly polls, it seemed like a formidable alternative to the SP and Congress-NCP for Muslims in Maharashtra. But the Bandra (E) bypoll results, where MIM’s Siraj Rahbar Khan polled 15,050 votes, lesser than what he had received six months ago (23,976 votes), proves that the party is nothing more than a spoiler.
Bandra (E) has around 84,000 Muslim voters. Around 33,000 votes were cast in the bypoll. MIM got around 50% of the total Muslim votes polled. The party helped Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant trounce Congress heavyweight Narayan Rane. “MIM has just nuisance value. No Muslim-centric party can win elections on its own except in a few regions where Muslims are demographically strong. MIM should have remained confined to Telengana and Andhra Pradesh,” said senior community leader Ghulam Peshimam.
That the Congress got almost 50% of the Muslim votes in Bandra (E) and MIM’s share has reduced shows that the latter party is not the community’s first choice. “MIM is the B-team of Sena-BJP. The Owaisi brothers (Asaduddin and Akbaruddin) held 13 meetings in just four Muslim-concentrated localities of Bharat Nagar, Behrampada, Navpada and Golibar. Their communal and hate speeches polarized the voters. This election has proved once again that they are just spoilers while the Congress is regaining some of its lost ground,” said Congress MLA Naseem Khan.
MIM legislator Waris Pathan rubbished the spoiler tag: “We got 50% of the Muslim votes despite the low turnout and Narayan Rane’s money and muscle power. Those who call us B-team of the Sena-BJP should introspect why the Muslims deserted them. We will prove our might in the upcoming Aurangabad municipal elections.”
SP state chief and MLA Abu Asim Azmi, who had pledged support to Rane, said: “A section of Muslim youths get carried away by emotional speeches of the Owaisi brothers and waste their votes. Muslims have showed their political immaturity once again by splitting their votes.”