Maharashtra Polls : Majlis to launch its campaign on October 2

The All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will launch its electoral campaign in Maharashtra from Aurangabad on October 2. Party president, Asaduddin Owaisi, will address two public meetings one at Paithan and another in Aurangabad in the evening. The next day he will address an election meeting in Malegaon followed by a public meeting in Dhule at 8 pm.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Majlis president, Syed Imtiaz Jaleel, announced the names of six more candidates for the ensuing election, taking the total candidates declared so far to 24. On Monday he announced the candidature of Ali Khan Moin Khan (Parbhani), Shaikh Shafiq Mohammed (Beed), Pralhad Dhondiram Rathod (Paithan), Shakeebul Rehman (Kamptee, Nagpur), Sagar Namdeo Shinde (Hathkangle, Kolhapur ) SC, Suresh Eknath Jagdhane (Srirampur, Ahmednagar) SC. The candidate earlier named for Dhule constituency has been replaced with Dr Anwar Farooq Shah.

Earlier, the party announced candidates for Kurla, Bandra East, Anushaktinagar, Byculla, Andheri West, Sangola, Solapur, Solapur Central, Solapur South, Pune Cantonment, Vadgaonsheri, Pune, Malegaon Central, Nanded North, Aurangabad East, Aurangabad Central and Aurangabad West.

The Majlis, which won two seats in 2014 elections, has made deep inroads into the Congress bastion in Marathwada region, inflicting defeat on the party in at least six seats. It repeated the feat in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections held in 2015 by emerging as the runner-up bagging 25 seats in the 113-seat Corporation. In the 2019 general election, the Majlis candidate, Imtiaz Jaleel, won the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat. With these impressive performances, the Majlis has proved that it is no pushover.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in NewsMeter

Dated September 30,2019