The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, has emerged as one of the biggest gainers in the latest round of municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, nearly doubling its corporator strength and expanding its footprint across urban local bodies in the state.
According to early trends and final tallies, AIMIM is set to secure close to 114 corporator seats across 12 of the 29 municipal corporations where it contested, a sharp rise from around 48 seats in the previous civic elections. The party recorded its strongest performance in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, winning 33 seats and establishing itself as a key player in the civic body. Other notable victories include 21 seats in Malegaon, 13 in Nanded, 11 in Amravati, 10 in Dhule, and eight in Solapur. Smaller but politically significant gains came in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with five seats each in Mumbai and Mumbra. AIMIM also secured three seats in Akola, two each in Ahmednagar and Jalna, and one seat in Parbhani.
AIMIM first made its mark in Maharashtra in the 2012 Nanded Municipal Corporation elections, winning 11 seats in the 81-member civic body and marking its debut outside Telangana.
The party’s improved performance comes despite internal turbulence within its Maharashtra unit. Days before polling, Mumbai unit president Farooq Shabdi resigned, and state unit president Imtiaz Jaleel faced threats over seat distribution, highlighting factional tensions ahead of the elections.
AIMIM’s rise also coincided with a relatively weak showing by the Samajwadi Party, which had been targeting the same urban Muslim vote base in several cities. Notably, AIMIM has now won more seats than both the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), underscoring its growing political relevance in urban Maharashtra.
