Political parties seek Muslim electorate, yet resist Muslim representation: AIMIM’s Jaleel

PTI, May 4, 2024, 3:53 PM IST

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said all political parties need votes from the Muslim community but do not want their leadership.

Addressing an election rally in Sajapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jaleel claimed that no one from the Muslim community was fielded in the Lok Sabha elections in 11 states in the country. Jaleel is contesting the election from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad), the seat he won in 2019. The constituency will go to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the general election. ”All political parties in the country need your votes, but they do not want Muslim leadership. Major political parties have not fielded Muslim candidates in Maharashtra, and there are 11 states where candidature was not given to Muslims,” the AIMIM leader said. Jaleel further pointed out that there were no Muslim MPs in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa and Delhi.

”If we don’t contest, then how will we win? When I contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, leaders in the city said I can’t win. But people stood with us,” he said. Jaleel defeated undivided Shiv Sena’s candidate Chandrakant Khaire by a margin of 4,492 votes in the 2019 elections. Independent candidate Harshawardhan Jadhav had secured 2.83 lakh votes and contributed to Khaire’s defeat.