MIM’s Imtiyaz Jaleel beats Shiv Sena stalwart in Maharashtra thanks to Dalit-Muslim unity

Aurangabad, May 28: In spite of massive Modi wave, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has wrested the Aurangabad seat in Maharashtra from the Shiv Sena thanks to the Dalit-Muslim unity.

AIMIM candidate, journalist-turned-politician Imtiyaz Jaleel Syed trounced the sitting four-time Sena senior leader Chandrakant Khaire in a see-saw drama that ended at around 4 a.m. on Friday.

Syed and Khaire kept leading-trailing each other in several rounds and counts since Thursday evening.

Until then, Jaleel was in a comfortable position, but the tables apparently reversed when the rural areas votes were taken up for counting.

Finally, he was declared elected with a margin of 4,492 votes over Khaire - giving the AIMIM its first MP from Maharashtra.

Jaleel was first elected as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Aurangabad central constituency in the Assembly Election of 2014. The same year he had entered politics after 23 years of experience in journalism ‒ 11 years with Lokmat and near 12 years with NDTV.

Jaleel, was selected by the British High Commission for a study tour to London for young political leaders. The commission has selected 12 young political leaders from different parties from across the country for the week long programme aimed at future political leaders. Interestingly, Jaleel was the only politician from Maharashtra to be selected for the tour. On 8 September 2016, city based NGO Nayodya Dnyan prasarak Mandal had honoured Imtiyaz Jaleel with "Best MLA" Aurangabad ever had at a function attended by Dalit and Muslim activists in a large number.