Hyderabad: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) once again showed that it has the ability to impact election results in Bihar’s just concluded Gopalganj by-poll. Of the two by-elections held for Gopalganj and Mokama, the ruling RJD (in alliance with the Nitish Kumar-led JDU) lost the former and won the other. Analysts believe that the loss was a result of the AIMIM candidate drawing Muslim votes.
In the Gopalganj seat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 70,053 votes, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) came second with 68,259 votes. The AIMIM’s candidate Abdus Salam got 12,214 votes and stood third in the tally, taking 7 percent of the total. This is significant, as it shows that the AIMIM can impact the electoral fortunes (in some seats) of secular parties like the RJD, Janata Dal (United) and the Congress, which also rely on Muslim votes.
Though the AIMIM off-late has been reeling from setbacks in recent times, it is likely to contest such by-polls and the state elections as it did in 2020. The Hyderabad headquartered party, headed by Hyderabad Lok Sabha member of Parliament Asauddin Owaisi, made headlines last year after it won five out of the 28 seats it contested in the 2020 Bihar state polls.
However, since then four of the AIMIM’s MLAs joined the RJD. The MLAs Mohd Izhar Arfi, Shahnawaz Alam, Rukanuddin Ahmed, and Anzaar Naimi who joined Yadav’s RJD, raised the party’s strength to 80 in the 243-strong assembly. Its lone MLA and Bihar head Akhtarul Iman was also expelled from the state assembly.
“What this shows is that the AIMIM is definitely a problem for parties like the RJD. However, in this case, maybe it was that Muslim voters felt that the RJD did not have a candidate they could support,” said political analyst PAlwai Raghavendra Reddy.
Though limited, the AIMIM has found its footing in Bihar for sure. It is one of the other states in India aside from Maharastra, where the party managed to make inroads with a splash. In Maharashtra, the AIMIM has two MLAs and also an MP from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat.
Prior to the 2020 state polls in Bihar, the AIMIM had won the Kishaganj seat in a prior by-election. AIMIM’s Qamrul Hoda won the seat, resulting in the Congress losing its deposit. The grand old party managed to get just 25,825 votes. The seat falls under the Seemanchal region, which is one of the most backward areas and has a good chunk of Muslim voters. The AIMIM is focussing on that area the most.
After its Bihar success in 2020, the AIMIM also contested state elections in Jharkhand but failed to make inroads.
