Patna, Mar 13 (IANS): The president of AIMIM's Bihar chapter, Akhtarul Imam, has sent a recommendation to the central committee of the party to contest the Lok Sabha elections on 11 seats in the state.

Our party leaders suggested that we should fight on 20 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar but I have recommended to the central committee of the party to contest on 11 seats,” said Imam, the sole MLA of the AIMIM representing the Aamaur assembly constituency in Purnea district.

Imam said that the AIMIM candidates will definitely contest in the four Lok Sabha seats of Muslim dominant Seemanchal region including Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar.

The AIMIM has also selected Darbhanga, Ujiyarpur, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Karakat and Buxar Lok Sabha seats where the Muslim community has a sizable population.

“People are blaming our party that we are cutting the votes of INDIA bloc which is not true. Our candidates will contest against the BJP, JD-U, RJD, Congress and other parties. I am also contesting the Kishanganj seat in the Lok Sabha election 2024 but people are saying that I will challenge the candidate of the Mahagathbandhan. This is not true. We have prepared the ground in those constituencies and on that basis, our candidates will challenge the other political parties,” Imam said.

“We contacted the leaders of the INDIA bloc to include AIMIM in it but they refused,” he added.

The Muslim community is the core vote bank of the RJD, Congress and the Left parties in Bihar and the presence of the AIMIM severely hurts these parties.

During the 2020 assembly elections, the AIMIM had won 5 seats in the Seemanchal region of Bihar but more than that it had cut the votes of the RJD and the Congress in more than 20 seats. As a result, the Mahagathbandhan failed to reach the majority mark in that election. After the 2020 assembly elections, 4 MLAs of the AIMIM had joined the RJD.