Maharashtra civic polls: Owaisi's AIMIM expands footprint, dominates in Aurangabad, Malegaon

Asaduddin Owaisi

• AIMIM surpasses NCP in Maharashtra civic polls, wins in major cities
• AIMIM wins first seats in Mumbai and Chandrapur municipal corporations.
• Party doubled BMC seats, now eligible for group leader and HQ office.

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Assaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has found its grounding in Maharashtra during the civic elections. Trends on Friday said that the party outshone Sharad-Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

As of 6 pm, AIMIM won seats in Aurangabad, Malegaon, Dhule, Amravathi, Nanded, Mumbra, Govandi, Akola, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Solapur and Parbhani.

Earlier in the day, trends showed the party leading in 74 wards. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Owaisi's party had a breakthrough by securing its first-ever victory in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation, the party won 16 of the 116 seats, positioning itself as one of the prominent contenders. Dhule also saw a strong showing, with AIMIM securing eight seats in the 74-member civic body.

In Amravati, the party won three seats in the 87-ward corporation, while in Jalna it managed to bag two seats out of 65. In Malegaon Municipal Corporation, AIMIM emerged victorious in four of the 84 wards, and in Parbhani, it won one seat in the 65-ward civic body.

In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, AIMIM has so far won two seats, with official trends indicating that it is leading in two more wards as counting continues for the 227-member civic body. Ahead of the results, AIMIM national spokesperson Waris Pathan had voiced confidence in the party’s prospects, rejecting exit poll predictions as unreliable.

Reports also indicate that the Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party has established a presence for the first time in the Ahilyanagar and Chandrapur municipal corporations. AIMIM won three seats in Ahilyanagar, while Chandrapur marked the party’s first-ever electoral success in the civic body. Observers believe the party drew a portion of votes traditionally associated with the Congress and the NCP led by Sharad Pawar.

In Mumbai, AIMIM has significantly improved its standing. After opening its account in the country’s richest municipal corporation with just two seats in 2017, the party has doubled its tally this time. As a result, AIMIM will now be eligible to appoint a group leader and will also be allotted an office at the BMC headquarters, according to a report by the Free Press Journal.

Detailed ward-level results in Mumbai show AIMIM candidate Mehjabin Atiq Ahmed winning Ward No. 134 in M East, Mankhurd Village, with 8,414 votes, defeating Congress candidate Benzir Diwate by a margin of 2,216 votes. In Ward No. 136, Jameer Kureshi registered a decisive victory, defeating his nearest rival from the Samajwadi Party by 9,957 votes. The other two wins came from Ward No. 137, where Patel Shameer secured victory by 4,370 votes, and Ward No. 145, where Khairunisa Akbar Hussain reportedly won by a margin of 2,095 votes.

In Nagpur, AIMIM contested six seats, with party chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi campaigning extensively, including addressing a public rally. According to the latest agency reports, the party was leading in four seats. The party was also reported to be ahead in several other civic bodies, including 20 seats in Malegaon, 14 in Nanded, and six in Amravati, highlighting its expanding influence across urban local bodies.