MIM eyes 6 MP, 35 MLA seats

Hyderabad: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which is looking to expand its voter base, has decided to contest 35 MLA and 6 MP seats in both Telangana and Seemandhra.

The party proposes to contest 20 Assembly seats in Telangana and 15 in Seemandhra. The party announced the first list of candidates for the constituencies, which are being held by the party. It has renominated five candidates and replaced two. MIM has dropped two sitting MLAs Virasat Rasool Khan and Muqtada Afsar Khan. Kausar Mohiuddin, a senior party leader, will contest from Karwan, while Jaffer Hussain Meraj, former deputy Mayor, will be fielded from Nampally.

The remaining five MLAs, Ahmed Balala (Malakpet), Syed Ahmed Pash Quadri (Charminar), Akbaruddin Owaisi (Chandrayanagutta), Mumtaz Ahmed Khan (Yakutpura) and Moazam Khan (Bahadurpura) have been renominated. Party president Asaduddin Owaisi said the party would first finalise the list for Telangana, and later it would ponder over the Seemandhra candidates.

“Owaisi himself is interviewing the leaders and the process would be completed by Tuesday,” a party leader said. Amongst the list of Parliamentary constituencies, besides Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the party is zeroing on three out of four, which include Hindupur, Nandyal, Anantapur and Kurnool where there is a sizable Muslim population. It is also likely to field a candidate for Nizamabad. Asaduddin is expected to contest from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency. For the local body elections it contested for 41 Municipalities and 4 Corporations; Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Kadapa and Anantapur. It fielded the candidates in 375 wards.

Responding to a question, he ruled out alliance with any of the political parties at this point of time. “Future we cannot predict,” he added.