Strongman of the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in Bhainsa town, Jabir Ahmed, was a happy man on Saturday as results of the election to wards in this communally sensitive urban local body (ULB) in Nirmal district were announced. His party won 15 of the 26 wards exactly as claimed by him despite the town witnessing communal violence in the run up to the polling.
The AIMIM victory was aided no less by the fact that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had made it a friendly contest in Bhainsa. Three of its candidates had withdrawn in favour of the AIMIM giving them the wards on a platter, the other contestants being ‘weak’, evident from their tally of votes.
But it was the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in putting in place a proper strategy to defeat the AIMIM that saw it limited to winning from nine wards, a tally which was lesser than many in town expected in the wake of the communal violence of January 12 and 13. Polarisation of votes was anticipated but evidently did not take place.
It is a well known fact that the BJP leadership had come in for criticism for its poor election strategy by way of nominations just as the nomination process had ended. The party apparently failed to take advantage of the ‘mood’ of the voters by putting up ‘deserving’ candidates at least from some wards.
The AIMIM on the other hand had a clear cut vision of its campaign notwithstanding the aberration of the communal violence. It put up candidates even from Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste reserved constituencies.
Though its ST candidate from ward number 12 conceded a win to the BJP, the SC candidate from ward number 13 scored a mighty win. The BJP, it was clear, failed to make inroads in that ward.
