<p>Guwahati: After drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha elections, Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is for the first time not contesting a poll battle in Assam, albeit bypolls, given the party's shrinking support base among its Muslim vote bank. </p><p>The party is not contesting in the bypolls for five Assembly seats in Assam, scheduled on November 13 and appealed to its supporters to cast "conscious votes" during the BJP vs Congress poll battle.</p><p>"The party decided not to contest the polls due to strategic reasons," the party said in a statement. </p>.Palakkad bypolls: Trouble brewing for BJP's hopes as Sandeep revolts against C Krishnakumar.<p>Ajmal, who lost the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat to senior Congress leader and former minister Rakibul Hussain, interestingly, has extended support to Hussain's son, Tanzil in the Samaguri Assembly seat. Hussain was elected to the Assembly from Samaguri four times before he contested the Lok Sabha elections and defeated Ajmal in Dhubri, a Muslim dominated constituency in Western Assam. Samaguri is in central Assam's Nagaon district and is not part of the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat. Ajmal was elected to the Lok Sabha from Dhubri three times at a stretch. </p><p>Ajmal projected himself and his party to be the "messiah of the Muslims" in Assam and did well both in the Assembly as well as Lok Sabha seat since its formation in 2005. The AIUDF had even emerged as the second largest party and won three out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. But the party's political fortunes started dwindling after BJP increasingly started targeting Ajmal as a "symbol of infiltrators" in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in the Assembly elections in 2016 when the saffron party formed government in Assam for the first time. The party came back to power for the second straight term in 2021. </p><p><strong>Support base</strong></p><p>Although Ajmal said that it was a "strategic decision" not to contest the bypolls, the party insiders said that they were focussing more on rebuilding the party from the grassroots by reaching out to the Muslim voters given their shrinking base. </p><p>"Our ground level leaders told us that Muslim voters are unhappy because of the party's failure to address their problems, particularly the citizenship crisis arising out of the NRC exercise. We need to work out strategies to reach out to the grassroots levels to convince the voters that we can fight against BJP in the Assembly elections in 2026," said an AIUDF leader. </p><p>The party on Tuesday expelled three of its leaders in Nagaon district, Saddam Hussain, Sofiqul Islam and Sadikur Rahman for publicly extending their support to BJP candidates. </p><p>BJP is contesting in three seats and gave tickets to its allies AGP and UPPL in the remaining two. Congress, on the other hand, severed an alliance of the opposition parties and is contesting in all the five seats. The five seats fell vacant after the MLAs (two BJP, one each of AGP, UPPL and one Congress) were elected to the Lok Sabha. The bypolls are being seen as the "semifinal" to the Assembly elections slated in 2026. </p>
<p>Guwahati: After drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha elections, Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is for the first time not contesting a poll battle in Assam, albeit bypolls, given the party's shrinking support base among its Muslim vote bank. </p><p>The party is not contesting in the bypolls for five Assembly seats in Assam, scheduled on November 13 and appealed to its supporters to cast "conscious votes" during the BJP vs Congress poll battle.</p><p>"The party decided not to contest the polls due to strategic reasons," the party said in a statement. </p>.Palakkad bypolls: Trouble brewing for BJP's hopes as Sandeep revolts against C Krishnakumar.<p>Ajmal, who lost the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat to senior Congress leader and former minister Rakibul Hussain, interestingly, has extended support to Hussain's son, Tanzil in the Samaguri Assembly seat. Hussain was elected to the Assembly from Samaguri four times before he contested the Lok Sabha elections and defeated Ajmal in Dhubri, a Muslim dominated constituency in Western Assam. Samaguri is in central Assam's Nagaon district and is not part of the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat. Ajmal was elected to the Lok Sabha from Dhubri three times at a stretch. </p><p>Ajmal projected himself and his party to be the "messiah of the Muslims" in Assam and did well both in the Assembly as well as Lok Sabha seat since its formation in 2005. The AIUDF had even emerged as the second largest party and won three out of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. But the party's political fortunes started dwindling after BJP increasingly started targeting Ajmal as a "symbol of infiltrators" in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in the Assembly elections in 2016 when the saffron party formed government in Assam for the first time. The party came back to power for the second straight term in 2021. </p><p><strong>Support base</strong></p><p>Although Ajmal said that it was a "strategic decision" not to contest the bypolls, the party insiders said that they were focussing more on rebuilding the party from the grassroots by reaching out to the Muslim voters given their shrinking base. </p><p>"Our ground level leaders told us that Muslim voters are unhappy because of the party's failure to address their problems, particularly the citizenship crisis arising out of the NRC exercise. We need to work out strategies to reach out to the grassroots levels to convince the voters that we can fight against BJP in the Assembly elections in 2026," said an AIUDF leader. </p><p>The party on Tuesday expelled three of its leaders in Nagaon district, Saddam Hussain, Sofiqul Islam and Sadikur Rahman for publicly extending their support to BJP candidates. </p><p>BJP is contesting in three seats and gave tickets to its allies AGP and UPPL in the remaining two. Congress, on the other hand, severed an alliance of the opposition parties and is contesting in all the five seats. The five seats fell vacant after the MLAs (two BJP, one each of AGP, UPPL and one Congress) were elected to the Lok Sabha. The bypolls are being seen as the "semifinal" to the Assembly elections slated in 2026. </p>