AIMIM’s Owaisi celebrates civic poll victory, rejects BJP alliance

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslims president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday thanked the people of Maharashtra and his party workers for winning 125 seats in that State’s civic polls, even as he denied that any agreement could be reached with the Bharatiya Janata Party or the National Democratic Alliance.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Darussalaam, Mr. Owaisi said the party secured 33 seats in Aurangabad, 21 in Malegaon, 14 in Nanded, 12 in Amravati, eight in Mumbai and five in Mumbra. “This is the people’s decision,” Mr. Owaisi said, adding that the party would have made more gains if it had been able to campaign in Western Maharashtra.

He rejected allegations of communalism made by his opponents, stating that doing so was akin to insulting voters.

Mr Owaisi reiterated that AIMIM companies should not take policy decisions independently and operate within the framework set by the party’s standing committees. He cited the suspension of five corporators in Akot who supported a BJP-backed candidate, stressing that the party would not align with the BJP or the NDA under any circumstances.

While taking questions regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, he argued that it was wrongly linked to citizenship issues. He underlined that the Election Commission of India has no power to determine citizenship, which falls solely within the purview of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Register of Citizens framework.

He said AIMIM has made a representation to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to ensure that documents like birth certificates and Class X documents issued through MeeSeva centers are accepted and no legitimate voter is excluded from the list. He said that the case continues in the Supreme Court and it is not yet clear when the decision will be announced. “Your right to vote can be taken away from you. If your name is removed, they can give you a notice. According to the rules, if the BLO goes to your house twice and you are not available, then they have the power to send you a notice under the Aliens Act. This is not easy and people need to take this seriously,” he said.

The Hyderabad-based parliamentarian also stated that moves in Uttarakhand to ban non-Hindus from entering certain areas were unconstitutional and akin to untouchability. “What will happen if such laws are introduced? Religious rituals will obviously be performed by representatives of that faith. But if you say that entry to that region is prohibited, how will this happen? On what basis will you do this? Where will you take this country?” he said.