AIMIM to contest urban local body polls in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi would contest the upcoming urban local body elections in Madhya Pradesh, for which the party has devised a strategy to conduct a survey in the Muslim-dominated areas of the state.

The urban local body polls using EVMs are likely to be held in Madhya Pradesh in February next year for which the State Election Commission has completed all the preparations.

AIMIM is all set to enter the political fray in the state through these polls. Naeem Ansari, the acting President of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit, has accepted that the prospects of the party's status are being explored in the wake of the local body elections along with a survey to be conducted soon.

Sources said that AIMIM is eyeing especially those areas where there are a large number of Muslim voters. Owaisi is specifically focusing on Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Khandwa, Sagar, Burhanpur, Khargone, Ratlam, Javra, Jabalpur, Balaghat and Mandsaur.

Till now there has been a direct political fight between the Congress and the BJP in large parts of the state. There are some parts of the state where the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is engaged in a triangular fight. Political experts believe that if the AIMIM also contests the urban local body elections, the Congress is expected to suffer a political dent.

Owaisi has tried to increase AIMIM's political base outside Hyderabad in the last few years. His party fielded 20 candidates in the recent Assembly elections in Bihar and won five seats. Similarly, in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, 38 candidates were fielded from different constituencies, but it failed to win a single Assembly seat.

At the same time, 44 candidates won the elections in the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections. Owaisi is now trying to expand his party's base in north India, which he has announced by entering the political field in Madhya Pradesh.