Owaisi’s AIMIM Enters as Third Front in Bihar Election: Apart from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and INDIA (Grand Alliance), now a third front is going to make a explosive entry in the political arena of Bihar Assembly elections 2025! All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi himself has taken charge of it. AIMIM on Saturday announced that it plans to contest about 100 seats in the upcoming state assembly elections, five times more than the number of seats in the last elections. This big announcement of the party is likely to directly spoil the game of INDIA alliance led by Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, as it is likely to lead to huge division in minority votes.
Owaisi’s ‘third option’
Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party is claiming that it aims to create a ‘third option’ in Bihar, where for years politics has revolved only around the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-RJD alliance. Owaisi has in recent times extensively toured Seemanchal, which is considered the party’s traditional stronghold. He has held several public meetings there and talked to workers on the new political equation. Speaking to reporters in Kishanganj, Owaisi had said, “I am looking forward to meeting many colleagues in Bihar and making new friendships. The people of the state need a new option and we are trying to be that.” Seemanchal, which falls in the north-eastern part of Bihar (Katihar, Kishanganj, Araria and Purnia), has always been a center of attraction for political parties due to its Muslim majority population, poverty and lack of development.
There was great success in 2020, but the MLAs were broken.
AIMIM tried its luck for the first time in Bihar elections in 2015, in which it was not successful. But in the 2020 assembly elections, the party demonstrated its political strength by fielding candidates on 20 seats. In this election, AIMIM had won five seats of Seemanchal, Amour, Bahadurganj, Bayasi, Kochadhaman and Jokihat. However, in 2022, the party suffered a major setback when all four MLAs except state president Akhtarul Iman joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). AIMIM had given tickets to 16 Muslim and four non-Muslim candidates in 2020, in which only the Muslim candidates were able to win.
Will have a decisive impact on 47 seats
Political expert Arun Kumar Pandey said, “Asaduddin Owaisi no longer wants to be limited to the politics of Seemanchal only. He is talking about alliance with many parties.” Pandey said that where Muslim voters are decisive, the Grand Alliance may face difficulty, whereas where the role of backward castes is important, the NDA may face challenge. The population of Muslims in Bihar is more than 17.7 percent, and there are 47 assembly seats in the state where Muslim voters can play a decisive role. Most of these seats are in Seemanchal only.
RJD did not show interest: Akhtarul Iman
AIMIM state president Akhtarul Iman said that they are trying to present a third option in Bihar elections and plan to field candidates on 100 seats. He said he had written letters to RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Grand Alliance leader Tejashwi Yadav, demanding some seats for AIMIM in the Grand Alliance, “but they showed no interest. The public will answer for this in the elections.” He said the party will fight the elections this time on the issue of social justice and minority rights and “we will show our strength to both the NDA and the Grand Alliance.” This announcement of Owaisi has made the equations of Bihar elections more complex.
