Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM contested civic body polls in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh for the first time
The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Wednesday won three seats in the civic body elections in Madhya Pradesh, taking its overall tally in the local polls held earlier this month in the state to seven.
In the first phase of the local polls held on July 6, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party had won four seats, while in the second phase conducted on July 13, the counting of votes for which is currently underway, it won three seats so far, officials said.
The Hyderabad-headquartered party won these three seats in the Khargone Municipal Council (KMC).
This is for the first time AIMIM contested civic body polls in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
AIMIM's Aruna Bai won from ward number 2 of KMC by defeating her nearest rival and BJP candidate Sunita Devi by a margin of 31 votes.
Aruna Bai, who belongs to the Scheduled Castes (SC) community, said she joined AIMIM as she was influenced by Mr Owaisi's views on Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Two other winners from the AIMIM are Shakeel Khan from ward 15 and Shabnam from ward 27 in KMC.
The BJP won 18 seats in the KMC, the Congress three and independent candidates eight.
In the first phase results on Sunday, the AIMIM won four seats - two in Jabalpur and one each in Burhanpur and Khandwa.
Mr Owaisi had addressed public meetings in Khandwa, Bhopal and Jabalpur to campaign for his party's candidates for the polls held earlier this month.
The local body elections in Madhya Pradesh for 413 municipal bodies, including 16 municipal corporations, 99 municipal councils and 298 Nagar Parishads, were held in two phases - on July 6 and 13.
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