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PATNA: Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which got lucky in its third attempt, has considerable influence in Kochadhaman, Kishanganj, Amour, Bahadurganj, Baisi, Thakurganj and Jokihat constituencies in Seemanchal, out of which it has won five seats. It is because of this that Owaisi mainly targeted the RJD-Congress combination during most of his election rallies. He had blamed the RJD-Congress combination for neglecting the region for a long time. Owaisi also raised issues such as NRC-CAA in his campaign rallies.
Unsurprisingly, AIMIM’s political rivals accuse it of being BJP’s ‘B’ team and of being a “vote katwa (vote cutter)”.
Congress MLC Prem Chandra Mishra admitted that AIMIM dented the Mahagathbandhan in Seemanchal region, causing losses to the alliance. “Owaisi, by and large, helped the NDA in that particular region, considered to be a Mahagathbandhan bastion,” he said.
RJD spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan echoed similar views. However, a look at the details of votes in the constituencies where AIMIM was in the contest shows that the main damage was in the form of its winning seats that would otherwise have been expected to go to the grand alliance. There were hardly any seats where the NDA was leading and the AIMIM got more votes than the margin.
Of the 24 seats in Seemanchal, AIMIM and its allies — BSP and RLSP — are contesting 20 seats. Of them, AIMIM is in the fray in 14 constituencies. “The initial results have shown that the party, which opened its account in the 2019 bypoll, is spreading its wings in the Muslim-dominated region in the state,” said Arshad Nizam, a political activist and retired teacher from Purnia.
