HYDERABAD: Congress leader Mohammad Ali Shabbir on Tuesday said that the AIMIM, despite its dismal performance in Jharkhand Assembly elections, helped BJP in winning a few seats by dividing ‘secular’ votes in the State.
In a statement on Twitter, the former minister said, “The results have exposed AIMIM’s proximity with the BJP. As a political party, MIM is free to contest from anywhere in the country. But it must stop acting like a ‘Vote Katwa’ (divider of votes) to help the BJP,” he said.
Shabbir Ali provided statistics that indicated the Hyderabad-based party may have been responsible for BJP’s win in at least six seats. For instance, in Mandu Assembly constituency, the data shows that the MIM candidate who secured 13,972 votes helped BJP’s Jai Prakash Bhai Patel win by just 2,068 votes.
Similar results were observed in Rajmahal, Hazaribagh and Bokaro Assembly constituencies. “We are thankful to voters of Jharkhand who not only defeated the communal BJP, but also rejected its secret ally MIM in 10 other seats,’’ he said.
The Congress leader claimed that the Congress-JMM-RJD alliance could have won more seats if MIM had not contested the elections.