Hyderabad: The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Saturday released its first list of 32 seats and candidates for the Bihar assembly elections, scheduled to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11.AIMIM Bihar state president Akhtarul Iman announced the list covering 32 seats across 16 districts of Bihar and said that the party plans to contest 100 out of the total 243 seats, with efforts underway to form a “third front”. A formal declaration regarding the front is expected soon.In the 2020 assembly polls, AIMIM contested in alliance with the BSP and the then Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, winning five of the 19 seats it contested. The party was accused of damaging the prospects of the RJD, Congress, and the Left alliance in several other constituencies. In 2022, four AIMIM MLAs joined the RJD.Akhtarul Iman said that this time, the RJD-Congress-led Mahagathbandhan cannot accuse AIMIM of splitting secular votes to benefit the BJP. He mentioned that AIMIM made several attempts to form an alliance with the RJD-Mahagathbandhan, including writing letters, but all efforts were rejected. AIMIM is now in talks with like-minded parties to form a third front, with further details to be announced soon.He asserted that the party plans to contest 100 seats, five times more than in the previous polls, and that both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan will now recognise the public support for AIMIM.AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has been actively campaigning and addressing public meetings in Bihar. The party expects strong support in the Muslim-majority Seemanchal region. The first list of 32 seats includes the five constituencies AIMIM won in the 2020 polls in Seemanchal.
