Hyderabad: As curtains fall for the Delhi election campaign on Monday, February 3, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) keeps its fingers crossed after a month-long campaigning

The party has fielded Shifa Ur Rehman for Okhla and Tahir Hussain for Mustafabad constituencies. While Rehman is a former president of the Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Association, Hussain was a former Aam Admi Party (AAP) councillor.

Tahir Hussain was arrested five years ago under the draconian Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act in connection with the infamous 2020 Delhi riots. He was recently granted parole by the Supreme Court to campaign for the Delhi elections.

Shifa Ur Rehman is also accused in the Delhi riots case and has been in prison since April 2020. He faces alleged charges of a pre-planned conspiracy to incite riots in North East Delhi while being the president of Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Association. He was also granted parole by a Delhi court to campaign.

AIMIM has made sure no stone is left unturned for the Assembly elections. Party president Asaduddin Owaisi and Delhi election in charge and former MP Imtiyaz Jaleel campaigned strongly via numerous public meetings, road corner meetings and paidal daura (campaign on foot) supported by social media outreach initiatives.

The party had planned to contest more seats but sources said it was confined to two – Mustafabad and Okhla – constituencies with a large number of Muslim population and better chances of winning

AAP has fielded Okhla incumbent MLA Amanathullah Khan and Adil Ahmad Khan will be contesting from Mustafabad.

Delhi has an electorate of 1.55 crore but the exact number of Muslim population is not clearly mentioned.

In the 2011 census, Muslims made up around 12.9 percent of Delhi’s population. Analysts believe this could have gone up to 15-18 percent. Muslims have a sizable vote in at least seven of the 70 constituencies. On several of the other seats, they could have a critical impact on the results.