AIMIM, led by Asaduddin Owaisi, will run for 16 seats in Bihar in the 2024 Lok Sabha Election

Lok Sabha Election 2024: On Thursday, March 28, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) declared its intention to run for the 16 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Parties will run for seats in Darbhanga, Pataliputra, Kishanganj, Madhubani, Katihar, Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Sheohar, Purnea, Araria, Sitamarhi, Karakat, Maharajganj, Samastipur, Paschim Champaran, and Valmiki Nagar, according to State President Akhtarul Imam.

“Our party requested to join the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, but they disregarded our request. We’re going to take on the BJP on our own,” he said.

“Every segment of society is behind the Muslim community. The Bihar caste study even revealed the backwardness of Muslims. Nevertheless, Imam said, “Muslim leaders in Bihar and the nation are not being supported by any political party.”

He also said that if Hina Shahab, the widow of Mohd Shahabuddin, decides to run for Lok Sabha from Siwan, the AIMIM will back her.

The news by AIMIM raises concerns for the I.N.D.I.A bloc, particularly for the RJD, as it might affect their MY (Muslim-Yadav) equation. The AIMIM gained five seats in Bihar at the 2020 Assembly elections, whereas the RJD and the Congress lost more than twenty seats.

Owaisi’s party prepared to support the widow of Shahabuddin
The widow of notorious gangster-turned-politician Mohd Shahabuddin, Hina Shahab, has the full backing of the AIMIM, which stated it will campaign for her “as an Independent or on a like-minded party’s ticket” should she decide to run for Lok Sabha.

Akhtarul Iman, the leader of AIMIM’s state branch and the party’s lone MLA for Bihar, made the statement today. Hina Shahab ran as an RJD candidate from Siwan in the most recent Lok Sabha elections; her late husband had won the seat four times for the party.

“Our condolences are extended to the late Shahabuddin’s wife. The AIMIM would provide her complete support and even assist her with campaigning if she decides to run for office as an independent or on the ticket of a party that shares her views, Iman said during a news conference.

When asked whether Asaduddin Owaisi, the current Hyderabad MP and head of AIMIM, would go from the Telangana capital to support Hina Shahab, Iman said, “We cannot say anything about him since he has so many engagements.” However, I have stated what his party plans to do.”

Remarkably, Hina Shahab has been abandoned by the RJD of late. This was made clear recently when Tejashwi Yadav, the party’s de facto head, spent many hours in Siwan without seeing any of her family members while on his ‘Jan Vishwas Yatra’ around the state.

Additionally, the RJD has forged a partnership with CPI (ML) Liberation, with whom Shahabuddin had engaged in several violent conflicts throughout his life, the most famous of which was the assassination of Chandrashekhar, a former leader of the JNU students’ union, in broad daylight.

There are many rumours that the CPI (ML) Liberation may run for Siwan as part of the seat-sharing agreements, and Hina Shahab has been hinting that she would run again even if the party did not offer her a ticket after learning the RJD had closed its doors on her.

In addition, Iman said that the AIMIM had now “decided to contest 15 seats” in the state, as opposed to the 11 seats it had previously announced.

“We may run for a few more seats. For instance, our cadre has put a lot of pressure on us to challenge Madhubani. If we want to do so, we will announce it,” said Iman, who is also expected to try his luck in Kishanganj, the only constituency in Bihar with a plurality of Muslims, having received close to three lakh votes in the last general election.

The leader of AIMIM became enraged when the JD (U), led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accused his party of being the “B team of the BJP” and accused him of “sitting in the lap” of the saffron party.

“It is false to believe that our politics are limited to Muslims, despite the fact that our sphere of influence is in the Seemanchal region, where the community has a comparatively larger population,” he said. We will be revealing our candidates in a few days, and I can tell you ahead of time that over half of them will not be Muslims.”

When will Bihar hold its elections?
Bihar will have seven stages of voting on April 19, 26, May 7, 13, 20, 25, and June 1. On June 4, the results will be announced.