Telangana: MIM Fields 4 For LS, 21 For Assembly

The MIM has fielded its candidates from as many as four Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly constituencies in the Telangana region.

It was in 1989 when the MIM contested from 35 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. In 1994, it confined itself to 20 Assembly seats. Since then, the number of its candidates never touched double-digits. Therefore, after a gap of 20 years, the MIM has again tried to expand itself by fielding candidates from seats other than Hyderabad district.

Interestingly, the MIM gave tickets to many non-Muslim candidates to substantiate its claim of being a secular party. While MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is the candidate for the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, the remaining three Lok Sabha candidates in Telangana are non-Muslims - Diwakar Dharanikota from Malkajgiri, G Motilal Naik from Bhongir and N Mohan Rao from Secunderabad.

Similarly, one-third of the MIM's Assembly candidates in Telangana are non-Muslims - Gadda Yugender from Uppal, Sharath Nalaganti from Amberpet, James Silvester from Secunderabad, G Motilal Naik from Bhongir, V Naveen Yadav from Jubilee Hills, Dharanikota Sudhakar from Malkajgiri and Gonti Vikram from the Ibrahimpatnam Assembly constituency.

The other candidates in the fray are: Akbaruddin Owaisi (Chandrayangutta), Ahmed Pasha Quadri (Charminar), Maozzam Khan (Bahadurpura), Ahmed Balala (Malakpet), Jaffer Hussain Meraj (Nampally), Kausar Mohiuddin ( Karwan), Yakutpura (Mumtaz Ahmed Khan), Nazeer Khan (Serilingampally), Syed Rahmath (Patencheruvu), Mir Majaz Ali (Nizambad Urban), Mohd. Ghouseuddin (Qutubullapur), Sheik Ahmed (Maheshwaram), Zakir Hussain Jawed (Rajender Nagar), Mohd. Qasim Shaheen (Musheerabad).

The MIM has also named candidates for 13 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seats in the Seemandhra region. They are: Moghul Kareemullah Baig - Markapuram; Mohammed Ali - Anantapur; Hadi Shaukat Ali - Hindupur; CM Ilyas - Kadri; Mohd Ali Pathan - Madanapalli; Shaik Karimullah - Nandyal; Khader Basha - Rayachoti; Mullanti Chandrasekhara - Alur; Y Mahaboob Basha - Guntakal; Shaik Abdul Khader - Ponnur; Basheer Ahmed - Guntur West; Shaik Bajit Basha - Guntur East; P N Varaprasad (SC) - Singanamala.

The MIM has also named P Venkatanarayana Reddy as its candidate from the Nandyal Lok Sabha constituency. (INN)