AIMIM Decided to Field Dalit Candidate from Bikapur Constituency of Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh

FAIZABAD: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has decided to field a Dalit candidate from Muslim-dominated Bikapur constituency of Faizabad for the February 13 Assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The Assembly bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of sitting Samajwadi Party legislator Mitrasen Yadav.

Pradeep Kori, a Dalit youth, is the MIM candidate from Bikapur constituency. He is also the state president of ‘Kori Society’, an influential group among Dalit community members in the area. Experimenting with his plan of ‘Dalit-Muslim unity’ ahead of the 2017 UP assembly elections, Mr Owaisi is all set to hold a series of public meetings in this area in the first week of February to drum up support for his party.

“We are concentrating our strength in this constituency as there are more than one lakh Muslim voters and Dalits also in equal numbers,” told AIMIM state president Shaukat Ali.

A special team of AIMIM from Hyderabad, Mumbai and Lucknow is camping in the area ahead of the polls.