Aurangabad: No cakewalk for AIMIM’s only MP Imtiyaz Jaleel this time

Just two months before the 2014 Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha polls, Imtiyaz Jaleel, like other TV reporters, chased politicians with his microphone and camera to get their sound bites. After the polls, he was on the other side of the table, giving interviews and bytes to the same media personnel with whom he competed. Imtiyaz Jaleel facilitated the entry of All India Majlis Ittehadul Musalmeen (AIMIM) in Maharashtra by winning a legislative assembly seat from Aurangabad along with Waris Pathan, who won from Byculla in Mumbai. In 2019, he made his debut in the Lok Sabha elections from the Aurangabad constituency and emerged victorious. With his transformation complete from a journalist to a politician, Jaleel soon became a blue-eyed boy of the party chief, Asaduddin Owaisi. He was appointed as the Maharashtra chief of AIMIM. Jaleel is once again contesting from the same seat. However, the changed circumstances this time indicate that it will not be a cakewalk for him.

One major disadvantage for Jaleel in this election is that his party is not in alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). In 2019, the VBA and AIMIM had formed a third front in Maharashtra. Although the VBA was not able to win a single seat, the alliance of Dalit and Muslim parties dented the voter base of the Congress-NCP coalition. On some seats, VBA candidates were runners-up and garnered over one lakh votes. Out of the total 48 seats in Maharashtra, the BJP won 41 seats, Congress-NCP won 5, AIMIM won 1, and one was won by an independent candidate. In 2019, Jaleel won by a mere 4,492 votes, securing 32 percent of the votes. Although the winning margin was low, Jaleel succeeded due to several factors. Apart from gaining the support of Dalit voters through the VBA, the then-incumbent MP Chandrakant Khaire’s electoral prospects were damaged by the independent candidate Harshavardhan Jadhav, a former MLA and a Maratha leader, who received 2,83,798 votes. Additionally, there was a lack of a prominent Muslim candidate.

The situation is quite different this time. Although AIMIM proposed an alliance with the VBA, the party leader Prakash Ambedkar turned it down. He has nominated a Muslim named Afsar Khan from the constituency. Afsar Khan is a five-time corporator and a popular figure in the Muslim community. Although Harshavardhan Jadhav is once again contesting as an independent, his influence has diminished over the last five years, and his name has been in the news for adverse reasons. Political observers doubt that he will be able to replicate his past performance. On the other hand, the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate, who was once infamous for delivering provocative speeches against Muslims, is now attempting to appease Muslims by using appreciative language towards the community. Approximately 20 percent of the voters are Muslims.

During the last five years, Imtiyaz Jaleel has endeavored to shed his image as a Muslim leader and has attempted to build bridges across communities. Although Jaleel has protested against the renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar, a decision seen as a result of communal politics, he has addressed several issues concerning the general citizens of Aurangabad, including the issue of water shortage. Jaleel’s hope of victory rests solely on the division of votes between the candidates of the two Shiv Senas. Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has fielded Sandipan Bhumre, an MLA and the guardian minister of Aurangabad. Previously, the BJP had its sights set on this seat, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah even addressed a rally in Aurangabad targeting AIMIM before Bhumre’s candidacy was announced. On the other hand, Asaduddin Owaisi is vigorously campaigning for Jaleel. Aurangabad will vote on May 13th.