Owaisi's AIMIM Fails to Cut Into Congress' Votes in Karnataka Polls

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)'s debut in the Karnataka Assembly election has ended on an unimpressive note as it failed to make much difference in the two seats that it contested in the 2023 polls.

The AIMIM was expected to eat into the votes of Congress, but in the end, it has not done much damage to Congress. The grand old party registered a resounding victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections, the results of which were announced on Saturday.

Going by the Election Commission data, the AIMIM has secured just 0.02 per cent votes.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had fielded Durgappa Kashappa Bijawad from Hubballi-Dharwad East and Allahbaksh Bijapur from Basavana Bagewadi.

Bijawad got 5,600 votes in the Hubballi-Dharwad East constituency which was won by Congress' Abbayya Prasad against his nearest rival and BJP candidate Dr Kranthi Kiran. Whereas Allahbaksh Bijapur secured 1,472 votes in Basava Begewadi which was won by Congress' Shivanand Patil against Bellubi Sangappa Kallapa from BJP and Basanagouda Patil from JDS.

Asaduddin Owaisi had announced that AIMIM would contest in about 25 constituencies in Karnataka although his party was open to having an alliance with the JDS. However, it went solo and the JDS did not show interest and fielded candidates in two seats.

The rise of the AIMIM has come at the cost of Congress in some places. It was evident in the key municipal corporations of North Karnataka elections held earlier.

In 2021, it had made its presence felt in civic polls in Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi and Kalaburagi by winning three seats in Hubballi and one in Belagavi.

Also, the AIMIM had cut into the votes of Congress in the Gujarat and Bihar elections.

Hence, political pundits had expected the AIMIM to eat into the votes of Congress as Muslims make up 13 per cent of the state's population.

Going by the trends, the Muslim votes consolidated behind the Congress which helped it to register a thumping victory. Moreover, nine Muslims have won the election from the grand old party.

The announcement of the ban on Bajrang Dal did the trick for Congress, political observers say.

It has to be noted that another Muslim-centric party SDPI has also failed to make any impact despite fielding 16 candidates in the Karnataka Assembly polls.