Hyderabad: The AIMIM has in principle decided to field candidates for the Krishnagiri, Vaniyambadi and Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituencies for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. MIM sources said that MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi postponed his decision on contesting the TN elections for a couple of days. The sources said that Mr Owaisi will make a formal announcement before Friday on the number of seats the party will contest. However, it is expected that the MIM will contest 6 to 10 seats in Chennai city, Vellore district and Assembly segments in Krishnagiri Lok Sabha seat.
The party will field Muslim candidates from Vaniyambadi and Chepauk segments as candidates from the community were elected eight times in 14 elections held so far from 1952. Muslim candidates won five times from the Chepauk segment. The party is likely to accommodate a Dalit candidate from Krishnagiri, the sources said. The MIM believes that Dalit-Muslim combination will be a winner for it in the TN polls and help it build its base. The party is banking on attracting the 5.9 per cent Muslim voters in the state.
