Mixed bag for MVA, Mahayuti in Muslim-dominated seats in Maha

It was a mixed bag for 11 seats with more than 35 percent Muslim voters, where six candidates of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi emerged victorious in the Maharashtra assembly polls on Saturday, while four seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehad Muslimeen, which is not aligned with either of the coalitions, won its lone seat -- Malegaon Central -- as Mufti Mohammed Khalique polled 1,09,653 votes to emerge victorious by a slender margin of 162 votes against Asif Shaikh Rashid of a local outfit -- Indian Secular Largest Assembly of Maharashtra.

The Malegaon Central assembly segment has more than 78 percent Muslim voters.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had not fielded a candidate here, while Congress nominee Ejaz Baig secured 7,527 votes.

Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party polled 54,780 votes to win the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar seat by a margin of 12,753 votes against his nearest rival, Ateeque Ahmad Khan of the AIMIM.
Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Nawab Malik, whose candidature appeared to upset the BJP-led Mahayuti, stood a distant fourth. Shiv Sena candidate Suresh Patil occupied the third position with 35,263 votes. The Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar seat has 53 percent Muslim voters.

SP's Rais Kasam Shaikh polled 1.19 lakh votes to win the Bhiwandi East seat by a margin of 52,015 votes against his nearest rival, Santosh Shetty of the Shiv Sena. This area has a Muslim population of 51 percent.

Congress's Amin Patel defeated Shaina NC, who quit the BJP to join alliance partner Shiv Sena on the eve of the election, by a margin of 34,844 votes from Mumba Devi. This area has a Muslim population of slightly more than 50 percent.

BJP's Mahesh Choughule won the Bhiwandi West seat by a margin of 31,293 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Azmi Riyaj Muqeemuddin of the SP. Muslims account for around 49 percent of the population in this Assembly segment. AIMIM candidate Waris Pathan was a distant fifth, polling 15,800 votes.

In Amravati, which has a Muslim electorate of around 46 percent, NCP's Sulbha Khodke defeated Congress's Sunil Deshmukh by more than 5,413 votes. Alim Patel of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) was a close third with 54,591 votes.

In the Mumbra-Kalwa seat, NCP-SP leader Jitendra Awhad won by a margin of more than 96,228 votes against the Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Najeeb Mulla. Muslims account for 43.7 percent of the population in the area.

Congress leader Sajid Pathan won the Akola West seat by a slender margin of 1,283 votes against Vijay Agarwal of the BJP. The area has around 41 percent Muslim voters.

In Byculla, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasehb Thackeray leader Manoj Jamsutkar defeated Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's Yamini Jadhav by a margin of 31,361 votes. This area has a Muslim population of around 41 per cent. Faiyaz Ahmed of the AIMIM polled 5,531 votes. In 2014, Waris Pathan of the AIMIM had won the seat.

Shiv Sena's Pradeep Jaiswal polled 85,459 votes to defeat Naseruddin Siddiqui of the AIMIM by a margin of more than 8,119 votes in Aurangabad Central, where the Muslim community comprises over 38 per cent of the electorate. Shiv Sena UBT candidate Balasaheb Thorat came third with 37,098 votes.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat polled more than 1.22 lakh votes to defeat Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Raju Shinde by a margin of 19,599 votes at Aurangabad West, which has a Muslim population of around 37 per cent.

Maharashtra, Jharkhand vote: FULL COVERAGE