Impressive debut for MIM with 3 seats
Hyderabad: It was celebration time for Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) which made an impressive debut in Maharashtra assembly elections by bagging three seats.
In its first attempt to expand outside Hyderabad and have pan-India presence, the party stunned the rivals by making inroads in the western state.
Bagging 25,314 votes, MIM’s Warish Yusuf Pathan won from Byculla in Mumbai, trouncing BJP strongman Madhukar G Chavan and Akhil Bharatiya Sena’s Geeta Gawli.
Imtiyaz Jalik was elected from Aurangabad Central, defeating his nearest Shiv Sena rival Pradeep Jaiswal by 30,000 votes and in Aurangabad East, MIM’s Abdul Gaffar Kadari defeated BJP’s Atul More by over over 15,000 votes.
Scores of party activists celebrated the party’c victory at Darussalam, the party headquarters here. A stream of workers and supporters were seen congratulating MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, who aggressively campaigned in Mumbai and parts of Marathwada.
The party fielded 24 candidates and backed an Independent.
Leaders feel it is a big achievement for the party considering the fact that it did not have any proper organisational structure in the state and majority of its candidates were political novices. They pointed out that the party also finished runners up in five or six constituency. “It is a good beginning. We will now build on this victory and expand the party to other states,” a senior party leader said. He did not wish to be identified. He believes the poll results reflect disillusionment of Muslims with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“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.IANS
