Maharashtra assembly election: Most MIM candidates lose deposits in Marathwada

AURANGABAD: If the results of assembly elections are anything to go by then the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslieem (MIM) appears to be losing its sheen in Marathwada.
Despite party chief Asaduddin Owaisi campaigning actively for party nominees, in seven out of the 11 constituencies the MIM candidates were nowhere in the race and most of them even lost their security deposits.
Aurangabad east, Aurangabad central, Aurangabad West and Nanded north are the only constituencies where MIM candidates showed some fight.
In Aurangabad east, MIM’s Abdul Gaffar Qadri got 40.97% and finished second while BJP’s Atul Save emerged victorious by claiming 48.10% votes.
In Aurangabad central, Naser Siddiqui from MIM got 35.12% votes, but lost to Sena candidate Pradeep Jaiswal who got 42.27% votes.
The MIM finished third in Aurangabad West (reserved) as its nominee Arun Borde got 19.71% votes. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Shirsath won from this seat by getting 42% of the votes. He was followed by BJP rebel and independent candidate Raju Shinde (21.72%).
In Nanded north, MIM Feroz Lala finished third by bagging 22.11% votes while Balaji Kalyankar of Sena won the seat with 33.10% votes followed by Congress nominee D P Savant (26.8%).
The party, however, failed to make its presence felt in its stronghold Nanded south constituency where it received only 11% votes.
Mohan Hambarde of Congress won the seat by getting 25.68% votes followed by BJP rebel Dilip Kandkurte and Shiv Sena’s Rajshri Patil fetching 23.71% and 20.28% votes, respectively.
The MIM’s performance elsewhere in the region was dismal. In Majalgaon, the party could get only 1.22% votes, while in Beed MIM nominee Shaikh Shafiq got only 3.6% votes. Its Ahmedpur, Syed Taheruddin was nowhere in the race and received only 0.93% votes.
In Parbhani, a Muslim dominated constituency, the MIM got 11.83% while Shiv Sena’s Rahul Patil won by getting 54.4% votes. In Jalna too, MIM nominee Iqbal Pasha, a former municipal council president, got a paltry 2.32% votes.
MIM sources admitted that their presence was negligible in many Marathwada constituencies.
A Congress leader said people have started feeling dejected by MIM’s emotional agenda. “The MIM will go the Muslim league way from Maharashtra, sooner or later,’’ he said.