Four political outfits to join hands in Malegaon for civic polls
The coalition comprises
Samajwadi Party
, Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra (ISLAM),
CPI
and RJD.
These parties established the minority defence committee (MDC) in Jan this year to advocate and provide legal support to Malegaon residents following state govt's formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate potential illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
BJP's Kirit Somaiya had claimed that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar obtained birth certificates through deception, enabling them to acquire Indian citizenship.
The local functionaries of Samajwadi Party and ISLAM, Md Mustaqueem and Asif Sheikh, respectively, indicated the possibility of the four MDC-affiliated groups contesting the elections together. "Although the stakeholders of MDC are yet to have formal talks on civic polls, there is a distinct possibility we could have a pre-poll alliance. Our work on the illegal migrants issue has been hugely appreciated by people in Malegaon town," said Sheikh, who is the former MLA of Malegaon Central constituency.
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Mustaqueem confirmed the strong coordination between MDC-affiliated parties.
"I feel that these parties should have an alliance for the civic elections in Malegaon. The seat sharing would not be a problem," he said.
Amongst these groups, Samajwadi Party and ISLAM maintain substantial support in Malegaon.
MDC sources indicated that parties would field candidates in their allocated constituencies under their respective symbols, with full support from other MDC partners.
MDC sources dismissed potential collaboration with Congress, despite Malegaon being its traditional stronghold where it emerged dominant in the 2012 and 2017 civic elections.
"Congress's popularity is on the wane in Malegaon. The party did not come forward to help the locals on the illegal migrants issue. It would not be possible for MDC to have an understanding with Congress," insiders of MDC said.
Congress experienced a significant setback in Jan 2022 when 28 corporators, including mayor Tahira Sheikh, left for undivided NCP.
Tahira is ISLAM party chief's mother.
Following NCP's division, Asif Sheikh remained with Sharad Pawar's faction before leaving to establish ISLAM. He subsequently lost the Malegaon Central election to AIMIM's Mufti Mohammad Ismail by 162 votes.
Malegaon Municipal Corporation comprises 84 seats–60 in the eastern section with minority community voters predominating, and 24 in the western section where Shiv Sena and BJP maintain significant influence among majority community voters.
Political analysts suggest that control of the civic body depends on success in the eastern section, where Congress previously performed well.
"This time, the main contest in the eastern part will be between AIMIM and MDC, if there is an alliance among the parties associated with the latter," said political observers.
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