Making its debut in Maharashtra, the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) surprised many as it secured two seats in the State, including one in Mumbai.
The Hyderabad-based party got around one percent of the votes.
Leading the party’s victory was former television correspondent Imtiyaz Jaleel, who secured the Aurangabad Central seat with 61,843 votes, beating his nearest rival, Shiv Sena’s Pradeep Jaiswal by over 20,000 votes.
The BJP’s Tanwani Kishanchand Lekhraj stood third with 40,770.
In another surprise, the party edged out two veterans, sitting Congress MLA Madhua Chavan and his namesake from the BJP, to win the Byculla seat in South Mumbai. Advocate Waris Yusuf Pathan beat Mr. Chavan by less than 200 votes in a constituency where MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi campaigned aggressively.
The MIM contested 24 seats, including 16 in Mumbai, and seems to have eaten into the Congress’s share of minority votes.
The party came a close second in Aurangabad East. Its candidate Dr. Abdul Gaffar Quadri lost out to the BJP by 4,000 votes. It finished a decent third in Nanded South while making inroads in other constituencies, especially in Muslim-dominated areas.
