Asaduddin Owaisi
With the help of Muslim votes, Asaduddin Owaisi is trying to get his party AIMIM recognized on the national platform by taking it out of the circle of four minarets in Hyderabad. Under this mission, Owaisi tried his luck in Maharashtra for the first time outside Hyderabad. Owaisi managed to win two seats in Maharashtra in his first attempt and also won a Lok Sabha seat. In this way, he was establishing Maharashtra as the new laboratory of his politics, but this time Owaisi has tightened his control and fielded candidates for fewer seats than last time.
Of the total 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, Asaduddin Owaisi has fielded his candidates for 14 seats. Only 14 candidates are trying their luck in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen list. In the 2019 elections, Asaduddin Owaisi fielded his candidates for 44 seats, while in the 2014 elections, AIMIM contested for 24 seats. Thus, compared to the last two elections, AIMIM has fielded candidates for only 14 seats, thus raising questions as to what is the reason why Owaisi is contesting for so few seats this time?
Owaisi fielded candidates for 14 seats
Of the 14 assembly seats for which candidates have been fielded on the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen list, former Aurangabad East MP Syed Imtiaz Jaleel has been named as a candidate. Nasir Siddiqui from Aurangabad Central, Farooq Shah Anwar from Dhule city, Mufti Ismail Qasmi from Malegaon Central, Waris Pathan from Bhiwandi West, Faiyaz Ahmed Khan from Byculla, Saif Pathan from Mumbra Kalwa, Raees Lashkaria from Versova, Farooq Shabdi from Solapur, Miraj Mahesh Kamble from (SC), Samrat Surwade from Murtijapur (SC), Mohammad Yusuf from Karanja Manora, Syed Moin from Nanded South and Babita Kanade from Kurla (SC) have been introduced.
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Bet on Dalit-Muslims in Maharashtra
From the way Asaduddin Owaisi fielded candidates in the Maharashtra elections, one can understand which votes his political target is. Owaisi has fielded 11 Muslim and three Dalit candidates among his 14 candidates. In this way, Owaisi focuses on the Dalit and Muslim vote banks. Maharashtra has a 13 per cent Dalit and 12 per cent Muslim population. Many political parties have tried to gain power with the help of these two communities.
So far, many leaders have made efforts to unite Dalits and Muslims, but no one has been able to implement it on the ground. In such a situation, Asaduddin Owaisi had joined hands with Prakash Ambedkar in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra through the same formula, but this time Owaisi is trying to solve the Dalit-Muslim equation on his own. Owaisi has fielded candidates only in those seats where Muslim voters make up more than 30 percent. Owaisi knows very well that Muslims can make a political place for themselves only on the basis of votes and he is setting the narrative for the same.
Muslim politics in Maharashtra
Muslim voters in Maharashtra are considered very important by 12 per cent. Muslim voters in North Konkan, Marathwada, Mumbai belt and Western Vidarbha in Maharashtra have the power to make or break the political future of political parties. Thus, Muslim voters are important in about 45 assembly constituencies of the state, which include seats in Mumbai. Last time, 10 Muslim MLAs won the elections, which include 3 Congress, 2 NCP, 2 SP, 2 AIMIM and 1 Shiv Sena MLA.
Why did Owaisi field fewer candidates?
Owaisi is trying to offer alternative leadership to Muslims in Maharashtra politics. In such a situation, Owaisi is often seen raising Muslim-related issues prominently on the streets from Parliament. It wants to establish its presence among the Muslim community with respect to Muslim representation and is setting the same agenda in Maharashtra so that it can strengthen its presence among them. Muslims can be done. Owaisi has been trying since 2014. In 2014, AIMIM won two seats after fighting for 24 seats and in 2019 it managed to win two seats after fighting for 44 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Owaisi surprised everyone by winning a seat like Aurangabad. In such a situation, what happened was that this time Owaisi fielded candidates only for 14 seats.
BJP Team B tagged
Parties like Congress and SP have been raising questions about Asaduddin Owaisi’s Muslim politics. Not only this, Owaisi has also been accused of working as the BJP’s B team. Through this, an attempt was made to give a message that Owaisi is working for the BJP to win by contesting the elections. Due to this narrative of so-called secular parties like Congress and SP, a doubt has arisen in the minds of Muslims about Owaisi, due to which the votes of the Muslim community are not joining him.
Imtiaz Jalil has also faced defeat in 2024. This is the reason why, instead of contesting elections to win more seats, Owaisi has selected only those seats where he sees more chances of victory. It is believed that instead of contesting for a large number of seats, they are contesting only for selected seats and the remaining seats have been left for the constituent parties of Maha Vikas Aghadi. Thus, political tension may increase for the BJP if Owaisi contests for fewer seats.
