NEW DELHI: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi will start his Bihar election campaign with a three-day ‘Seemanchal Nyay Yatra’ from Tuesday, after getting no invite from the INDIA bloc.
In the 2020 election, the AIMIM contested 25 seats and won five – Amour, Kochadaman, Baisi, Jokihat, and Bahadurganj.
Owaisi will begin prepping for the poll, likely in November, on his own, though he was looking to join the opposition Mahagathbandhan led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. The lack of a favourable response from that alliance, however, has led to him striking out on his own.
The AIMIM, incidentally, offers issue-based support to the Telangana’s ruling Congress.
The AIMIM yatra will be launched from Kishanganj and aims to “unite the people for the development and deliver justice for Seemanchal region”, the party said.
The yatra will cover the Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia, and Katihar districts, which are long-time focus areas of Owaisi, and where he has pushed for a Seemanchal Development Council under Article 371.
During the Yatra, Owaisi will hold road shows and roadside meetings in various Assembly constituencies of the Seemanchal region.
In the 2020 election, the AIMIM contested 25 seats and won five – Amour, Kochadaman, Baisi, Jokihat, and Bahadurganj. Most of these are in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal belt.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election the AIMIM failed to win any seats but kept its Seemanchal base alive.
Sources have said Owaisi is looking to expand the AIMIM’s footprint beyond those 25 seats this time, banking on local discontent and social workers joining his camp.
Political watchers have said this could cut into the RJD-Congress vote share in Muslim-dominated Seemanchal, altering Bihar’s 2025 equations.
