Malegaon: Pollsters may be predicting a defeat for the Congress in the October 15 Maharashtra elections. However, in Malegaon – the Muslim dominated city known for its powerlooms, the grand old party looks set for a comeback with its candidate Asif Shaikh showing a clear lead over his rivals.
According to the ummid.com exit poll, Congress candidate from the Malegaon Central assembly constituency Asif Shaikh is expected to get somewhere near the 50% of the polled votes, much higher than his nearest rival and sitting MLA Mufti Ismael of NCP.
Mufti Ismael, a political novice who is an Imam at the Jama Masjid of Malegaon, surprised the political observers when he defeated the sitting Congress MLA Shaikh Rasheed in the 2009 assembly elections by a comfortable margin.
However, the ummid.com exit poll, which is based on the total voter-turnout in as many as 216 booths of Malegaon (Central) assembly constituency and opinion of the people who cast their votes on October 15, 2014, shows that the people of Malegaon have rejected Mufti Ismael as their MLA, and he will not be getting the second chance.
Mufti Ismael had contested the 2009 election as Jan Swaraj Shakti candidate. He joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) a month before the October 2014 election, and contested as the NCP candidate.
As per the election commission data, 1,66,860 voters out of the total 2,46,301 registered voters, with an impressive 67.75 voting per cent, cast their votes on October 15, 2014. Of them 91,142 are male voters whereas 75,718 are females.
The ummid.com survey shows Congress candidate Asif Shaikh is expected to secure 79,000 to 83,000 votes - about 50% of the total votes polled on October 15 whereas sitting MLA Mufti Ismael is projected to get somewhere between 55,000 to 59,000 votes.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate, whose rallies addressed by Owaisi brothers had given sleepless nights to Asif Shaikh and Mufti Ismael both, is expected to get somewhere between 21,000 to 24,000 votes.
Bulund Iqbal, son of veteran Janata Dal (Secular) leader and five-time MLA Nihal Ahmed, is far behind of his rivals. Bulund, who contested the assembly election for the first time on the seat held by his father, failed to impress the voters. According to the ummid.com survey, he is expected to get a little more than 02,000 votes.
Others including the Shiv-Sena and independents are projected to get votes somewhere between 02,000 to 04,000.
Earlier, the Malegaon Central assembly seat saw a fierce battle between the rivals belonging to different political parties, from getting the party tickets to the voting day. The only assembly seat in Maharashtra where more than 95% electorates are Muslims saw many twists during the entire electioneering.
First it was Mufti Ismael who joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaving Abdul Malik, a sitting NCP Corporator at the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) and son of Yunus Isa, the local president of NCP in shock. Abdul Malik was lobbying since more than a year to the NCP ticket for the assembly election.
Equally astonished by Mufti's decision to join the NCP was Asif Shaikh as the NCP was in alliance with the Congress and he was the strong contender for the Congress ticket from Malegaon Central seat.
The political tug-of-war for the ticket came to an end when the NCP broke its 15-year old long alliance with the Congress, and Abdul Malik joined the Owaisi-led Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest the election on its ticket.
Comments
| Quick linksNews
National
International
Regional
Politics
Education & Career
Business
Science & Technology
Health
Views & Analysis
The Funny Side
© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.
The bitter battle for Maharashtra ended Wednesday evening with over 55 percent of the 8.35 crore electorate voting in assembly elections.... More
Also Read: Haryana sees healthy voter turnout
In government and private advertisements, he makes tall claims and shows a long list of 'achievements' during his five-year tenure as minister. To sum it up, he claims his ministry is responsible for the socio-economic and educational empowerment of the.... More
Section of the Indian Diaspora, in a trance to see their rock star, is feigning ignorance to the stinky communal policies of the controversial leader
Among the 18,500 people who behaved like cheerleaders for Narendra Modi during his theatrics last Sunday at New York's..... More
A 25-year-old Saudi girl, who was born during Haj days, died while performing Haj (pilgrimage) in Makkah just an hour after texting her father on his mobile telling him that she wishes to die there. A 25-year-old Saudi girl, who was born during Haj days, died while .... More