Hyderabad: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) was only successful in retaining one of the two assembly seats it won in 2019 polls. Of the 16 assembly constituencies it contested in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the party lost in 15 seats, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.
AIMIM leaders congratulated their candidate, Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalique, for retaining the Malegaon assembly constituency by defeating his nearest rival Arif Shaikh Rasheed of the Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra party. AIMIM won the seat in 2019 polls.
Though AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi addressed a series of public meetings in Maharashtra, the party could not retain the both seats it won in 2019 polls.
AIMIM won Dhule City and Malegaon Central in the previous election. However, this time the Dhule City seat was won by Agarwal Anupbhayya Omprakash of BJP. AIMIM's Shah Faruk Anwar secured second position, followed by the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate in third place.
AIMIM leaders said the party candidates secured second position in at least four constituencies. However, its frontline leader Imtiaz Jaleel Syed lost from Aurangabad East constituency to BJP's Atul Moreshwar Save by a slender margin of 75 votes. The Congress came in third place, said AIMIM leaders. Imtiaz Jaleel also lost the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat in parliament elections earlier this year.
Even AIMIM's Mumbai City president Rayees Lashkaria lost from Versova assembly constituency to Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Haroon Khan. The BJP was second, an independent third, and AIMIM was in fourth place.
Both the women candidates and another two non-Muslim candidates of the party lost from the constituencies they contested.