Owaisi-led AIMIM to contest Aurangabad LS seat; fields Jaleel

After a series of flip flops, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Tuesday announced its decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, where it fielded its MLA Imtiaz Jaleel from the Aurangabad constituency.

The Hyderabad-based party, led by MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has joined hands with Maharashtra's Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar to launch a new political front, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), for the Lok Sabha polls.

Ambedkar had on March 16 announced that the AIMIM would contest the Lok Sabha polls from at least one seat in Maharashtra.

"Imtiaz Jaleel will be AIMIM's candidate for the Aurangabad Parliamentary Constituency," Owaisi tweeted.

Jaleel said he would contest from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, which will vote on April 23, under the banner of VBA.

"It's time for my city to change. It's not about me. From here on it's always going to be 'We'. Let's all vote for Aurangabad," tweeted Jaleel.

A former journalist, Jaleel was elected from the Aurangabad Central assembly constituency in the 2014 polls. The AIMIM had also won the Byculla assembly seat in Mumbai.

Owaisi had earlier announced his party will not contest the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra and only extend support to VBA candidates.

"We have a strong presence in Aurangabad. Apart from having an MLA, we also have 25 corporators here. Hence, the party supporters were of the strong opinion that we should contest from the Aurangabad seat," Jaleel told reporters.

"I have received partys A-B forms in Hyderabad and will file the nomination form within a couple of days, he added.

Meanwhile, a day after filing nomination from the Solapur Lok Sabha seat, Ambedkar Tuesday also filed his papers from the Akola constituency in Vidarbha.

However, Ambedkar is expected to reveal Wednesday if he will contest from both the seats or will withdraw from one of them.

"People from the community would not take him seriously if he withdraws his nomination from Solapur, especially after the huge response he received while on his way to file nomination Monday," said a VBA functionary.

"Ambedkar will declare his stand Wednesday in Mumbai (whether he will contest from both seats)," the functionary said.

The BJP and the Congress have renominated their 2014 LS candidates in Akola. While the BJP has fielded its sitting MP Sanjay Dhotre, the Congress has again given ticket to Hidayat Patel.

In 2014, Akola had witnessed a triangular fight between Dhotre, Patel and Ambedkar.

While Dhotre polled 4.56 lakh votes, Patel got 2.53 lakh and Ambedkar 2.38 lakh.

In both Solapur and Akola, Ambedkar is banking on Dalit, Muslim votes and also eyeing OBC support as many caste and community groups are part of the VBA.

Dhotre is banking largely on Maratha votes, while Patel wields influence over the Muslim community in the constituency.

Ambedkar has won from the Akola Lok Sabha seat twice - in 1998 and 1999. On both occasions, he had defeated BJP's Pandurang Phundkar.

In the last three polls (2004, 2009 and 2014), BJP's Dhotre had won from Akola.