AAP should have stepped aside for direct poll contest with BJP: Delhi AIMIM chief

NEW DELHI: AAP candidates should have stepped aside to allow a direct Assembly poll contest with the BJP in the capital, AIMIM Delhi chief Shoaib Jamai said on Monday, while also accusing the Congress of vote-splitting.

Jamai claimed that the Congress contributed to vote-splitting in 14 seats, benefitting the BJP, as the votes received by the grand old party’s candidates nearly matched the margins by which the saffron party won these contests.

Responding to remarks by AAP’s Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan on Sunday, Jamai told PTI that Khan’s superior, “malik” -- referring to his party supremo and the poll candidate from the New Delhi constituency, Arvind Kejriwal -- has claimed that he lost the contest because the Congress nominee, Sandeep Dixit, bagged 4,568 votes.

Kejriwal was defeated by BJP’s Parvesh Verma by a margin of 4,089 votes.

If the AAP truly cared about Muslims, it should not have fielded candidates from Okhla and Mustafabad. Instead, it should have left these two seats for the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen (AIMIM), allowing for a direct contest between the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party and the BJP, which would have resulted in a clear victory for the former, Jamai said.

“If it (AAP) truly cared about Muslims, Adil Ahmad should have stepped aside, allowing us a direct fight with the BJP. We would have won that (Mustafabad) seat,” he asserted.

Jamai further claimed that the AIMIM is in a much better position than the Congress

in Delhi.

Despite this being its maiden venture in the Delhi Assembly polls and the party contesting only two seats -- Okhla and Mustafabad -- it secured 73,000 votes, while the country’s oldest political party failed to collect even 20,000 votes from these areas, he said.

Jamai termed the results disheartening but stressed AIMIM’s commitment to the oppressed, highlighting their candidates’ legal progress. He pledged continued support for the 72,000 voters who backed them in Okhla and Mustafabad, ensuring party offices remain

open to them.