The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) clung to its bastion comprising seven Assembly constituencies, but took blow after blow of the Opposition’s mallet that considerably flattened the winning margins in Yakutpura and Nampally.
The tightly-contested Yakutpura saw AIMIM’s sitting legislator Jaffar Hussain locking horns with Majlis Bachao Tehreek’s Amjed Ullah Khan, who proved to be a tough contender. Mr. Hussain flailed over the finishing line with a wafer-thin margin of only 878 votes. In a stark contrast, the AIMIM’s winning margin in the 2018 Assembly elections stood at a massive 46,978.
In the same year, Mr. Khan’s elder brother, Majeed Ullah Khan, stood third. Mr. Amjed Ullah Khan emerging as the principal opposition in the constituency this election took several by surprise, and gave AIMIM workers several anxious moments.
A similar trend was seen in Nampally Assembly constituency, where AIMIM’s first-time MLA candidate, former Mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain, took on the Congress’ Feroz Khan in what was a polarising, heated and slightly confrontational election campaign. Here too, the winning margin was papery thin with Mr. Hussain raking in 62,185 votes, and managing to scrape through with a little over 2,000 votes. This came as a sharp drop in the victory margin as compared to what was witnessed in last Assembly elections, which stood at a comfortable 9,675.
Those in the know said that the significant depletion in margins was a first, especially in the Yakutpura seat where Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri won in 2018, and before him, former Charminar legislator Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, wielded a considerable amount of sway over the constituency. They attributed the reduction in margins to Yakutpura recording the lowest polling percentage in the State, a change in booth-level functioning of parties, and shifting of voter attitudes.
The AIMIM’s other two first time candidates – Mohammed Mubeen from Bahadurpura and Mir Zulfiqar Ali from Charminar – too emerged victorious. While the former won by 67,025 votes, the latter by 22,853. Both constituencies recorded lower winning margins as compared to the 2018 assembly elections. In that year, the margin in Bahadurpura stood at 82,519 and in Charminar was 32,586.
Meanwhile, AIMIM’s veteran legislators, including Floor Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi scored massive victories. Mr. Owaisi, who fought the election from his traditional seat of Chandrayangutta since 1999, won with a staggering 81,660 votes. Similarly, Malakpet legislator Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala polled 55,805 votes and won against his nearest rival with a margin. It was a smooth sail for the party’s Karwan candidate and sitting legislator Kausar Mohiuddin who won with over 41,000 votes.
As word of the AIMIM’s victory spread, the party’s cheering supporters, and workers thronged in droves at its headquarters in Darussalaam. They raised slogans in support of the victorious candidates, and the Owaisi brothers. Party president and Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi arrived and congratulated the seven who won. Riding atop his car, Mr. Owaisi, a shawl around his neck, greeted the party’s supporters and thanked them.
