New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has expressed a desire to join the opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, stating that his party’s objective is to prevent the BJP-led NDA from returning to power in the state.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Owaisi said that AIMIM’s state president Akhtarul Iman has reached out to leaders within the Congress-RJD-led alliance and conveyed the party’s interest in contesting the elections together. “We do not want the BJP or NDA to come back in power in Bihar. Now it is up to these political parties that want to prevent that from happening,” Owaisi said.
Owaisi added that a similar attempt was made before the 2020 assembly elections, but the talks had failed. “Five years ago, I had also tried personally, but nothing came out of it. This time too, our state president is making an effort. If they are not ready, I am prepared to contest everywhere,” he said, while refraining from announcing the number of seats AIMIM would contest.
In 2020, the AIMIM emerged as a surprise factor in Bihar politics, winning five seats in the Muslim-majority Seemanchal region as part of the Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF). However, in 2022, four of its MLAs defected to the RJD, leaving Akhtarul Iman as the party’s lone legislator in the state assembly.
Despite past tensions, Iman said the party is willing to move forward. “We are ready to bury the hatchet despite the fact that the RJD took away our four MLAs. We want to move past these issues to achieve the bigger goal of defeating the NDA,” he said, adding that the party leadership has communicated its position to both RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress.
“The RJD and Congress might be interested in power, but our intent is to fight for justice,” Iman said, emphasising the need for like-minded parties to come under one umbrella.
The Seemanchal belt, comprising districts like Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia, remains a crucial region in Bihar’s political landscape, with significant Muslim and backward caste populations. Both RJD and Congress have historically relied on the Muslim-Yadav (MY) vote base in the region, which AIMIM’s emergence disrupted in 2020.
Meanwhile, Owaisi also criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) over its recent decision to conduct a “Special Intensive Revision” of electoral rolls in Bihar. Alleging that the process could disenfranchise the poor, Owaisi accused the poll body of implementing the NRC “through the backdoor”.
“To be enrolled in the voter roll, every citizen will now have to show documents not only proving when and where they were born, but also when and where their parents were born,” he wrote on X. “Conducting such an exercise would lead to genuine voters — particularly the poor — being struck off the electoral rolls. This violates their constitutional rights.”
