New Delhi:
Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi started his campaign in Delhi on Thursday. He marched in Okhla assembly constituency. AIMIM is contesting elections from only two seats of Delhi Assembly, Okhla and Mustafabad. On both the seats, AIMIM has given tickets to the accused of Delhi riots. These two leaders are in jail these days. Muslim votes in Delhi are around 20 lakh. Since the last two elections, Muslim votes are going to the Aam Aadmi Party. But this time, due to the entry of AIMIM in Delhi elections and the slight strengthening of Congress, there is a possibility of division in it. Let us see who has claim on Delhi Muslim votes.
From where is AIMIM contesting elections in Delhi?
Owaisi’s party is contesting only two seats in Delhi elections. It has nominated Shafaur Rehman for Okhla assembly seat and Tahir Hussain for Mustafabad seat. Both its candidates are in jail on charges of involvement in Delhi riots. Both are contesting elections from jail itself. In this way, Owaisi has once again scratched the wound of Delhi riots. Owaisi will target Congress and Aam Aadmi Party through this.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi campaigning in Okhla assembly constituency of Delhi.
The two seats from which AIMIM is contesting are Muslim dominated. In such a situation, Owaisi will try to consolidate Muslim votes in Delhi also. This is a vote bank in Delhi on which both Congress and Aam Aadmi Party claim. Political analysts say that after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Muslim votes have gone towards Congress. Congress had fought the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi in alliance with AAP. Experts say that Muslim votes in Delhi have shifted towards Congress.
What is the Muslim vote in Delhi?
Muslim votes in Delhi are considered to be around 20 lakh. This is a big vote bank. Seats like Seelampur, Matia Mahal, Ballimaran, Babarpur, Okhla and Mustafabad of Delhi Assembly are considered Muslim dominated, here only Muslims decide the victory or defeat. At the same time, Muslims are in significant numbers in seats like Seemapuri, Gandhinagar, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Vikaspuri and Karawal Nagar. Of these, AIMIM is contesting only two seats, Okhla and Mustafabad. This means that the fight for Muslim votes on the remaining seats will be between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. In the 2020 elections, there was a contest between AAP and BJP on these seats. Congress stood third on all these seats.
AIMIM is contesting elections from Okhla and Mustafabad assembly constituencies of Delhi.
Keeping in mind the Muslim votes, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s first rally was organized in Seelampur. This is a Muslim dominated area. Here Rahul fiercely attacked Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party. After this, AAP also started directly attacking Congress. But for the last two days, Rahul Gandhi is keeping distance from the election campaign in Delhi. It is being said that his health is bad. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see to which party the Muslims of Delhi hand over their leadership.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM has been trying to become a party of Muslims in the country’s politics for the last several years. But he is not getting much success anywhere. Its biggest success in the elections so far was in Bihar. In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, AIMIM contested 20 seats. It had won five seats. In that election, AIMIM got 14.28 percent votes in the seats it contested. But four of its MLAs had joined Lalu Yadav’s RJD.
Apart from Bihar, AIMIM has been successful in Maharashtra and Telangana. Apart from Telangana, he had won Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Apart from these states, AIMIM has been trying to establish its foothold in Uttar Pradesh for a long time. But he has not got any success there till now. In such a situation, Delhi elections will be like a litmus test for AIMIM. There he will get a chance to know and understand how much support he gets from the Muslims of Delhi. For this we will have to wait till February 8, when the results of Delhi elections will come.
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