PATNA: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has released a list of 32 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar and has hinted at the formation of a third front, a move that could significantly impact the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.
AIMIM Bihar chief Akhtarul Iman stated that the party would field candidates from multiple constituencies, including Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar, Araria, Gaya, Motihari, Nawada, Jamui, Bhagalpur, Siwan, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Vaishali, and Gopalganj.
Interestingly, most of the seats where AIMIM plans to field candidates are currently held by members of the INDIA bloc.
“AIMIM had attempted to prevent the division of secular votes and unite against communal forces, but the larger coalition partners didn’t cooperate, resulting in the formation of a third front,” Iman asserted.
He added that the party has released the list of 32 candidates out of the 100 seats it intends to contest in the 2025 assembly elections. The names of the candidates for the announced seats will be revealed soon, he said.
The AIMIM state president recalled that during the 2020 assembly elections, the party was accused of splitting secular votes.
“It is well known that we had written to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav seeking an alliance ahead of the 2025 assembly polls but received no response,” he added.
In the 2020 assembly election, AIMIM fielded candidates in 20 seats and won five. This performance was seen as having impacted the Grand Alliance, comprising the RJD, Congress, and Left parties. However, four of AIMIM’s MLAs later switched over to the RJD, leaving Akhtarul Iman as the party’s lone representative in the state assembly.
AIMIM had contested the 2020 election in alliance with Mayawati’s BSP and Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP. The party had influenced the performance of Opposition parties in several constituencies.
Kushwaha later joined the BJP-JD(U)-led NDA and formed a new party called the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM). In the 2025 assembly election, RLM has been offered six seats.
Muslims account for nearly 18 percent of the state’s population of over 13 crore, according to the 2022–23 state census.
