MP civic polls: AIMIM opens account, 4 candidates win as corporators in 3 cities

Bhopal, July 17: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) registered its maiden victory in Madhya Pradesh civic body polls on Sunday with four candidates winning the corporator's post in three cities.

Four AIMIM candidates registered victory in the municipal corporations of Jabalpur, Burhanpur and Khandwa, as per the State Election Commission (SEC) data. Of the four, two candidates won in Jabalpur and one each in the municipal bodies of Burhanpur and Khandwa cities. This is for the first time when AIMIM contested civic body polls in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Madhya Pradesh.

In Jabalpur, AIMIM's Shama Parveen defeated the nearest rival and Congress candidate Saima Waseem by a margin of 1,527 votes from ward number 49. Another AIMIM candidate, Samreen, defeated Shabnam Firdaus of Congress by a margin of 209 votes from ward number 51 of the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation.

In Burhanpur, Rafiq Ahmed won a tight contest against Independent candidate Shahzad Noor by a margin of 156 votes from ward number two, becoming the third candidate of the AIMIM to win civic polls in the state. AIMIM's Shakira Bilal won ward number 14 of the Khandwa Municipal Corporation by defeating her nearest Congress rival Noorjahan Begum by 285 votes, an official said. AIMIM's mayoral candidate Kaniz Fatima polled 9,601 votes in Khandwa.

The mayoral election was eventually won by Amrita Yadav of the BJP by a margin of 19,765 votes. She trounced her nearest challenger Asha Mishra of Congress. In Burhanpur also, AIMIM's mayoral nominee Shaista Sohail Hashmi polled 10,274 votes. BJP's Madhuri Patel scraped through with a thin margin of 542 votes by defeating Congress' Shahnaz Bano.

Former MP Congress president Arun Yadav accused the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party of playing spoilsport in elections in Khandwa and Burhanpur. "The AIMIM is the core team of the BJP and gets funding to play spoilsport in elections in the country," he alleged.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had addressed a public meeting in Khandwa to campaign for his party's candidates for the polls held earlier this month. Owaisi had also held public meetings in Bhopal, industrial hub Indore, and Jabalpur besides Burhanpur seeking votes in the urban body polls. The local body elections in MP for 413 municipalities, including 16 Nagar Palika Nigams, 99 Nagar Palika Parishads and 298 Nagar Parishads, were held in two phases - on July 6 and 13.

Under the first phase, polling was held in 11 municipal corporations, 36 nagar palikas and 86 nagar parishads, the counting for which began at 9 am on Sunday.