Bengal, Feb 5: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asadiddin Owaisi on Sunday appointed eight MLAs as the party observer for West Bengal Assembly elections.
AIMIM has been buoyed after its performance in the 2020 Bihar assembly election where it won five out of the 19 seats it contested, all in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region.
MLA from Bihar Md Shahnawaz Alam and Muhammad Izhar Asfi has been made observers for Assembly areas of Utter & Dakshin Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, and Alipurduar.
Other AIMIM MLAs of Bihar — Md. Aadil Hasan, Akhtarul Iman have been named as observers for Murshidabad, Birbhum, and Nadia districts respectively. Syed Ruknuddin Ahmad, Anjar Naeemi is appointed for Malda.
Telangana MLAs Jafar Hussain and Mriza Riyaz Ul Hassan have been made observers for the Bengal Assembly elections areas of Kolkata and south Bengal, comprising Howrah, Hooghly, Midnapore, Bardhavan, and 24-Parganas.
AIMIM’s performance in the Seemanchal region was one of the main reasons RJD failed to get expected support from its traditional Muslim vote bank and fell short of forming the government.
After damaging RJD in Bihar, Owaisi wants to do the same to Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal.
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Most of the districts where Asaduddin Owaisi has appointed Bihar MLAs as observers are adjacent to the Seemanchal region where the Muslim population is high.
According to the 2011 census, the Muslim population in the districts of Bengal where Bihar legislators have been made observers:
- Murshidabad – 66.27%
- Birbhum – 37%
- Nadia – 27%
- Uttar Dinajpur – 50%
- South Dinajpur – 25%
- Cooch Behar – 25.54%
- Alipurduar – 9%
- Malda – 51.3%
