MIM records surprise victory The political equations turned topsy-turvy when Aurangabad (Central) voters today chose the candidate of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeem (AIMIM) Syed Imtiaz Jaleel as their representative in the legislative assembly. Interestingly, Imtiaz, a former journalist, had entered the political arena just before the polls and won his debut elections in style. He defeated his nearest rival and Shiv Sena candidate Pradeep Jaiswal by a margin of 20,329 votes. Imtiaz polled 61,668 votes, while Jaiswal secured 41,339. BJP candidate Kishanchand Tanwani (40,298) and NCP nominee Vinod Patil (11,711) were relegated to the third and fourth positions. Ironically, Congress candidate M M Shaikh got only 8,979 votes and BSP candidate Sanjay Jagtap polled 10,966 votes. The election was considered a five-cornered fight, but after a few rounds of counting, it turned out to be a contest among the MIM, Shiv Sena and BJP candidates only. The counting of regular votes (after postal ballot) started at sharp 8 am. From the first to seven rounds, BJP (2,979 to 19,471 votes), Shiv Sena (2,232 - 16,934), MIM (1,828 - 9,723) and NCP (1,046 - 5,156) were on the first, second, third and fourth positions, respectively. In the eighth round, the MIM rose to the second position (18,044), while the BJP was on the first (19,825) and Shiv Sena third position (17,451). The turnaround happened in the ninth round when Imtiaz jumped to the first position (22,105). The BJP (20,535), Shiv Sena (18,545) and NCP (5,618) were on the second, third and fourth positions. The MIM went on to consolidate from here. The smiles were playing on the faces of Shiv Sena activists during the morning hours, however, as the results started going against them, they began leaving the venue. The members and activists of Shiv Sena and BJP were charged till the 9th round as the lead difference between MIM and them was between 3,000 and 4,000 only. From the 12th round, the lead difference was 15,000 plus. From the 13th round onwards, the lead was 20,000 plus till the declaration of the verdict. There were 18 candidates in the fray. The total strength of electors in Aurangabad (Central) constituency is 2.86 lakh. Of which, 1.86 lakh citizens (65.18 pc) cast their votes. It was clear the young Muslim community voters proved decisive. The division of votes between Sena and the BJP also helped the MIM. The defeat of Congress and NCP candidates is a major blow, while MNS once again proved that the speeches of their supremo fail to convert into votes.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 05:00:01 +0000
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