In continuation of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s efforts to fight the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Hyderabad-headquartered party has thus far released four lists of candidates.
The Owaisi brothers-led party has announced 27 candidates from seats such as Bareilly, Saharanpur Dehat, Bhojpur, Rudauli, Loni, Hastinapur, a reserved constituency, Meerut City, Ramnagar, and Nampara.
Hyderabad parliamentarian and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said that more candidates would be announced in the coming days.
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In the recent past, during the course of campaigning, Mr Owaisi, at public meetings underscored the importance of Muslim leadership in that State. He also said that in order to stay relevant, minorities should discard political secularism, and asserted the importance of secularism as enshrined in the Constitution.
Speaking to the media on Saturday in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Owaisi, along with Babu Singh Kushwaha, and others, spoke under the banner of the Bhagidari Parivartan Morcha, an alliance comprising the AIMIM and other parties. Here he proposed that if successful, in the five year tenure, there would be two Chief Ministers - one from the OBCs and the other a Dalit - and three Deputy Chief Ministers, of which one would be Muslim. He also spoke at length on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Owaisi said that the alliance had already drawn up plans to contest 403 seats, and a consensus on 95% of seats was reached.
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Later in the day, Mr Owaisi welcomed the decision of the Election Commission of India to permit gatherings and gatherings not exceeding 500 persons. He reiterated that he had written to the Commission seeking a revision of guidelines.
“We welcome @ECISVEEP’s change in election guidelines. Public meetings in open settings are now permitted for 500 people. I’ve written to CEC seeking revision of ban on padyatras & public meetings. Hope for further revisions in accordance with scientific consensus,” Mr Owaisi tweeted.