All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi is set to address his first public rally in Bahraich district on June 14, marking the start of the party’s campaign for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and potentially reshaping opposition dynamics in eastern UP.
According to AIMIM’s Uttar Pradesh president Shaukat Ali, Owaisi will address a gathering near Shankarpur Chauraha in the politically sensitive Matera assembly constituency. During his day-long visit, he will also offer prayers at the Dargah of Syed Salar Masood Ghazi.
Matera, a backward and flood-prone constituency with a sizeable Muslim, Yadav, OBC and Scheduled Caste population, has remained a Samajwadi Party bastion since 2012. SP leader Yasar Shah won the seat narrowly in 2017, while his wife, Mariya Shah, registered a comfortable victory in 2022.
Describing the visit as the “kickstart” of AIMIM’s 2027 campaign, Shaukat Ali said the party was aiming to contest around 200 seats if it went solo. “Our natural alliance, if we were to forge one, would be with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Muslims and Dalits together account for nearly 40% of the vote share, enough to defeat both the SP and BJP,” he said.
Senior SP leader and former minister Yasar Shah, however, dismissed the possibility of AIMIM making any significant inroads.
“Muslims are smart and observant. They have seen what AIMIM did in other states. As long as AIMIM’s actions indirectly help the BJP, Muslim votes will remain unaffected,” he said, while also criticising the politicisation of the dargah visit.
AIMIM hit back, accusing the SP of exploiting Muslim votes for decades without ensuring development. “One family has ruled Matera for over two decades, yet the area remains as backward as Seemanchal in Bihar,” Shaukat Ali said.
Owaisi’s foray into Bahraich is being viewed as an attempt to challenge the SP’s traditional hold over Muslim voters and explore the possibility of a BSP-AIMIM alliance that could alter the electoral arithmetic in minority-dominated constituencies across the state.
