AIMIM fails to make any headway in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) that contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with much fanfare, has come a cropper. The party has ended up with a miniscule 0.4 per cent vote share and zero seats.

AIMIM chief Asadudddin Owaisi, who created a flutter in state politics with his controversial speeches and claims, has failed to ‘move even a fly’ even though he had an opportunity to polarize minorities in his favour during the high-octane ‘bulldozer’ campaign being run by the BJP.

In 2017, the AIMIM, which had fielded candidates on 38 seats in Uttar Pradesh, had failed to open its account in the Hindi heartland though it received around 2 lakh votes. This time, it has got 22.3 lakh votes and increased its vote share marginally.

The AIMIM was confident of winning the Mubarakpur seat in Azamgarh where it had fielded former BSP leader Guddu Jamali.

However, Jamali lost the seat that has a large population of communities of weavers, migrant workers and people from different schools of Islam.

“Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are not prepared for the brand of politics that Owaisi practices. He may be an attention grabber but is not a vote catcher. He first needs to understand the politics of Uttar Pradesh which is different from Hyderabad,” said Mohd Ishaq, an elderly Muslim.