With Impressive Election Debut, AIMIM Bags 21 Seats In Vidarbha

Nagpur: AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi's passionate and emotive appeal for strengthening Muslim leadership during the civic poll campaign appeared to have made a significant impact in Vidarbha. The party not only opened its account with 6 seats in BJP bastion Nagpur but also improved its statewide tally to 122.The party bagged 11 in Amravati, six in Nagpur, three in Akola, and one Chandrapur, taking its tally to 21.AIMIM fielded 17 candidates in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections and won 6 seats, while narrowly missing victory in 2 others against BJP and Congress candidates. The party's candidates nearly swept prabhag 3 in Ashi Nagar zone and prabhag 30 in Nehru Nagar zone, barring stiff contests in 1 seat each. Of the 6 seats won in Nagpur, 4 came against BJP candidates and 2 against Shiv Sena. AIMIM lost 1 seat in prabhag 30 to Congress candidate Sanjay Mahakalkar and another in prabhag 3 to BJP's Kiran Manpiya.Though both prabhags have a sizeable Muslim population, 2 of AIMIM's winning candidates in Nagpur, Varsha Dongre and Pawan Koye, are non-Muslims, underlining party's expanding base. With this performance, AIMIM emerged as third-largest party in the NMC polls.Former AIMIM Vidarbha president Shahid Rangoonwala said the results reflected years of groundwork and organisational strengthening. He said the party focused on giving opportunities to grassroots social workers and first-time candidates, many of whom lacked political platforms earlier. Rangoonwala noted that AIMIM narrowly lost 2 seats by small margins and could reach its internal target of 8-10 seats in Nagpur. He added that victories in BJP bastions like prabhag 3 and prabhag 30 were big achievements. With husband Fahim Khan named in Mahal riots & sustained local work, played a role in converting support to Alisha Khan into votes.