Clarion India
NEW DELHI — As the first major political venture in the national capital, The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is set to contest around 40 seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections, according to party sources.
AIMIM first fought for nine seats in the 2017 civic body polls and lost all. This time the party wants to enter into fray with full might focusing on a sizeable Muslim and Dalit population in the city. The party has already announced is candidates for two seats.
Sitara Mohammad Fakhruddin will contest from Brijpuri ward in Mustafabad and Sartaj Ali Saifi has been selected to fight from Shri Ram Colony ward in Karawal Nagar.
The other areas which the party want to capture eyeing the sizeble Muslim population and other minorities including Dalits are Karawal Nagar, Okhla, Chandni Chowk, Seemapuri, Mustafabad, Ballimaran, Babarpur, Seelampur, Matia Mahal and Sadar Bazar, according to party sources.
AIMIM Delhi state president Kaleemul Hafeez, according to a reports in the Indian Express, said the party would primarily raise the issue of several Dalit and Muslim neighborhoods “being left in a neglected condition, and civic services not reaching there like other areas that are being developed”.
“Besides that, the Muslim community has been at the receiving end on several occasions, whether it was the Northeast Delhi riots, Tablighi Jamaat incident, or bulldozers being used at Jahangirpuri by the MCD. We have seen how both parties, the BJP and AAP, have been perpetrators and silent watchers in these incidents,” Hafeez added.
Senior AIMIM leaders including its chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Waris Pahan will join the poll campaign in Delhi.
The entry of AIMIM in Delhi’s local body elections may affect the prospects of Aam Aadmi Party which has hitherto enjoyed the full support of Muslim community which form almost 15% of the city’s total votes.
