Unanimous election of sorts

Charminar has been the stronghold of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and has elected only the party candidates in the last seven elections right from 1978 onwards.

A notable feature of this Assembly segment is that only once did the runner-up, BJP’s C. Ashok Kumar get 23.01 per cent votes in 1983 and in all other elections, the nearest rival to the MIM’s candidate did not cross the 20 per cent mark. Conversely, the MIM’s votes polled ranged from a low of 52.41 per cent in (2004) to a high of 72.33 per cent in 1989 when Virasat Rasool Khan got elected.

The party president Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, fondly called ‘Salaar’ got elected from this constituency in 1978 and 1983. Mohd. Mukarramuddin (1985), Virasat Rasool Khan (1989), Asaduddin Owaisi (1994 and 1999) and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri (2004) were the others who go elected.

In the last elections, it was a woman nominee from Telugu Desam Party, Tayyaba Tasleem who challenged the might of MIM, but she managed to get just 12.90 per cent of votes polled.