Assam: AIUDF to contest three seats, BJP sees ‘unholy alliance’

The decision has prompted the BJP to allege that there is an alliance between the AIUDF and the Congress. Both the AIUDF and the state Congress unit have denied any alliance.

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Badruddin Ajmal, AIUDF president

The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), led by perfume baron and MP Badruddin Ajmal, will contest only the three Lok Sabha seats it won in the 2014 election. The decision has prompted the BJP to allege that there is an alliance between the AIUDF and the Congress. Both the AIUDF and the state Congress unit have denied any alliance.

The AIUDF, which enjoys a large support base among the Bengali-speaking Muslims of Assam, contested 10 and won three out of the 14 seats in the state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It garnered 14.98 per cent vote share. In 2009, the party contested nine seats and won one, with a vote share of 16.10 per cent.

Aminul Islam, the party’s general secretary, said, “We will contest from Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj seats. Badruddin Ajmal will contest from Dhubri… In Barpeta, we are fielding a new candidate Hafiz Rafiqul Islam instead of sitting MP Sirajuddin Ajmal. Radheshyam Biswas, our sitting MP in Karimganj, will contest the seat again.”

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“We have taken this decision so that the BJP does not benefit in any way. We want to ensure that the votes against the BJP, which is a communal party, do not get divided,” Islam said, denying an alliance with the Congress.

The BJP had claimed a Congress-AIUDF alliance in Assam multiple times. On Sunday, BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav said that Congress and AIUDF were in an “unholy alliance”.

Congress spokesperson Rhituporna Konwar told The Indian Express, “We have no alliance with the AIUDF, neither is there any secret pact.”