TANZIL ASIF

When Asaduddin Owaisi announced few months ago that his party All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will contest election in Muslim dominated Seemanchal region of Bihar, Mahagathbandhan leaders and Political experts accused him of helping BJP in Bihar. JD(U) leader KC Tyagi alleged a ‘secret deal’ between PM Narendra Modi and Owaisi, while Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi tweeted on 12th Spetember “By fighting elections in Seemanchal, Owaisi wl not expand any of his own boundaries bt Wl certainly xpand those of the BJP!”. In a widely circulated report in The Asian Age, author Animesh Singh sought sources to confirm a meeting between Modi and Owaisi.

All these rumors fell flat when results came out on 8th November. AIMIM lost all six seats and failed to help BJP either. On the other hand two other prominent parties of the region Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) under Katihar MP Tarique Anwer and Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav’s recently formed Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) succeeded in helping BJP. 

Out of 6 seats under Katihar loksabha 3 went to the Grand Alliance, 1 to CPI(M-L)L and rest 2 to BJP. In Katihar assembly constituency Tarkishore Prasad of BJP defeated JD(U) candidate Bijay Singh by 14,894 votes, while ex-RJD MLA and 2014 JD(U) Loksabha candidate Ram Prakash Mahto secured 18,856 votes contesting on NCP ticket. Similarly, Binod Kumar Singh of BJP won Pranpur by 8,101 votes, where NCP got 39,823 votes. Congress candidate from Pranpur Tauquir Alam told me in an interview during election “NCP doesn’t have a strong hold in Katihar and Tarique Anwer saab is an MP due to the Grand Alliance which I think he forgot.”

In Purnia Loksabha Congress, JD(U) and BJP won 2 seats each. Krishna Kumar Rishi of BJP defeated Sanjiv Kumar Paswan of RJD by 708 votes in Banmankhi (SC) where Hari Lal Das of Pappu Yadav’s JAP(L) secured 5,803 votes and NCP candidate managed 1,749 votes.  But, in Purnia assembly constituency BJP’s Vijay Kumar Khemka came out too strong to get defeated by Congress, JAP(L), NCP, SP and BSP combined.

BJP won Forbesganj and Sikti of Araria loksabha, rest 4 went to the Mahagatbandhan. Vidya Sagar Keshri of BJP won Forbesganj by 25,238 votes and JAP(L) and NCP candidates managed to get 18,894 and 2,304 votes respectively. Similarly, BJP won Sikti by 8,106 votes where JAP(L) secured 4,725 votes and NCP 2,192.

The Grand Alliance won all six seats of Kishanganj loksabha making it only Parliamentary seat of Bihar with all Muslim MLAs. The four AIMIM candidates stood 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in Kochadhaman, Kishanganj, Baisi and Amour respectively without helping BJP. AIMIM found itself at 6th position in Raniganj(SC) (Araria)  and Balrampur (Katihar) where JD(U) and CPI(M-L)L won respectively. It won’t be misplaced here to add that AIMIM Bihar President Akhtarul Iman withdrew his candidature as JD(U) candidate in 2014 Loksabha election from Kishanganj claiming that his move was to ensure BJP don’t get benefited due to split of Muslim votes thereby giving a walkover to sitting Congress MP Asrarul Haque Qasmi.

So, why AIMIM failed to polarize Muslim votes? Did media created an unnecessary Owaisi-hyperbole and underestimated Tarique Anwer and Pappu Yadav?