AIMIM hopes to expand base in Telangana

In the upcoming elections, the party is contesting from seven constituencies – Nampally, Malakpet, Chandrayangutta, Karwan, Charminar, Bahadurpura and Yakutpura.

Hyderabad: Starting with a solitary seat in the year 1962 and growing to seven representatives in the State Legislative Assembly in 2018, the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) party is making concerted efforts to expand its base further in the coming polls.

Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, father of Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi, had contested as an independent candidate in 1962 from Pathergatti Assembly Constituency and won the election. The number gradually increased to two and three, and in the 1999 Assembly elections, four of the party nominees could win at the hustings. The party’s tally rose further to seven seats in 2009 post delimitation of the Assembly constituencies. In 2014 elections, the party contested from 20 Assembly constituencies and managed to win in seven.

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In 2018, it contested from eight constituencies and won seven seats. In the upcoming elections, the party is contesting from seven constituencies – Nampally, Malakpet, Chandrayangutta, Karwan, Charminar, Bahadurpura and Yakutpura that it won in last elections and trying its luck again in Rajendranagar and Jubilee Hills, where it had contested before also unsuccessfully.

“The party is banking on the developmental work undertaken to convince the voters to support it. The main advantage of AIMIM is easy accessibility of the leaders at the party headquarters and their local offices, and the hate crimes emanating from the Hindutva politics,” said a political analyst.

The AIMIM party is supporting the BRS in the elections and fighting two national parties — Congress and the BJP. This elections, the Congress is desperately banking on the Muslim population to consolidate its position. Although MIM is contesting from nine seats in the State, the party leaders are campaigning for the BRS as well.

The party chief Asaduddin Owaisi himself attended around four public meetings in the State and has a bigger role to play in the forthcoming elections.