AIMIM announces first set of 6 candidates

• Mumtaz Ahmed Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri not contesting
• Jubilee Hills and Rajendranagar added to party’s contesting list
• Jaffer Hussain Meraj shifted from Nampally to Yakutpura
• Mohammed Majid Hussain to contest for MLA from Nampally

Hyderabad: Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) announced its first list of six candidates for the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana. The party chief announced that they will contest nine seats in elections in the state.

Owaisi’s younger brother and party floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi would contest from his stronghold for the sixth time from the Chandrayangutta Assembly segment in Hyderabad, according to an AIMIM list. Senior party leaders Mumtaz Ahmed Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri will not contest the Assembly elections.

The Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday announced the candidates for six constituencies. He said two party stalwarts Mumtaz Ahmed Khan and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri have been replaced by two new faces this time. He recalled their work for the party for the last several years and said that they both would be associated with the party and the party would be going beyond under the guardianship of these veteran leaders of Hyderabad.

Asad said apart from the existing seven constituencies, the party will be contesting from Jubilee Hills and Rajendranagar segments. He said as the nomination process started on Friday, he would be announcing the candidates of Bahadurpura, Rajendranagar, and Jubilee Hills shortly.

The other candidates announced are Jaffer Hussain Meraj (Yakutpura), former Mayor Mir Zulfiqar Ali (Charminar), Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala (Malakpet), former mayor Majid Hussain (Nampally), and Kausar Mohiuddin (Karwan).

The party took a decision to shift Jaffer Hussain from Nampally to Yakutpura. Jaffer is the son of Ahmed Hussain who was a legislator from Seetarambagh in 1967. He was first elected as a corporator from Tolichowki division in 2009 and later as the Deputy Mayor of GHMC. He was elected as MLA from Nampally in 2014 and 2018. Now he will be contesting from Yakutpura.

After a time, the party took a decision to contest a new face this time for Charminar, which has been the bastion of the party since 1978 with Asad’s father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi winning the seat. The party chose Mir Zulfiqar Ali for Charminar. He was elected as a corporator from Hussaini Alam in 1986 and later appointed as Mayor of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation in 1991. He was the youngest mayor of HMC and now contesting for the first time as MLA from Charminar Assembly constituency.

The party saw another face contesting for MLA from Nampally, former mayor Mohammed Majid Hussain who was elected as corporator from Ahmed Nagar division in 2009 and later nominated as mayor from 2012 to 2014. From 2015 till now, he has been representing as a corporator from Mehdipatnam division.

Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala has been consecutively winning the Malakpet seat since 2009. From 2002 to 2007 he was a corporator from the Pathergatti division.

Kausar Mohiuddin has continuously won from Karwan since 2014. He worked at the grassroots level and was elected as party primary committee president from Hakeempet in 1986. Asad Owaisi made an appeal to the people to vote for AIMIM candidates wherever they contest and to support ‘Mamu’ (KCR) in the remaining seats.