The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said that his party will contest 100 seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections in 2022. He said that his party will be contesting elections in alliance with with Om Prakash Rajbhar's Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha and nobody else.
The party has begun the selection process of candidates, he added.
The Hyderabad MP, by tweeting in Hindi, announced that his party will contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. He usually sends out his message on the social media platform in English.
"Regarding Uttar Pradesh elections we have decided to field our candidates in 100 seats. The party has started the process of selecting the candidates and has also released the candidate/aspirants application forms," Owaisi tweeted. In another tweet, the AIMIM chief said"We are with OP Rajbhar Sahab 'Bhaagidaari Sankalp Morcha'. We did not have any talks with any other party regarding elections or tie-up".
In last year's Bihar assembly elections, the AIMIM won five seats (it contested 20) in the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region on the border of West Bengal.
Meanwhile, his counter part, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday said that her party would contest the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand alone.
She also dismissed reports of a tie-up with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) as "completely false, misleading and baseless."
The BSP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have allied to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. The BSP, which stormed to power in 2007 by winning 206 seats, was left with just 80 seats in 2012. In 2014, BSP did not win a single Lok Sabha seat, and in the 2017 Uttar Assembly elections, it bagged only 19 seats.
Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early next year.