<p>Guwahati: Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the most prominent Muslim face in Assam politics and a former three-time Lok Sabha member, was on Tuesday named as a candidate for the Assembly elections at a time the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the party he founded way back in 2005, gears up for a tough electoral battle. </p><p>This will be 70-year-old Ajmal's first Assembly polls battle since 2006 elections, when AIUDF won 10 out of 126 seats in its maiden electoral contest. </p><p>Ajmal's name figured on top of the party's second list of 12 candidates announced on Tuesday. The party earlier announced nine other candidates and is likely to contest in 30 to 35 seats with focus on Muslim majority seats. </p><p><strong>Tough battle</strong></p><p>Ajmal, however, resigned as MLA in 2009, when he was elected to Lok Sabha from Dhubri, a Muslim dominant seat. Ajmal was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019 but lost the polls in 2024 to Rakibul Hussain of Congress by a margin of over 10 lakh. </p>.No alliance with AIUDF for Assam Assembly polls: Gaurav Gogoi.<p>Ajmal got back to the Assembly polls when AIUDF is expecting a tough battle given Congress's decision against having a 2021-like pre-poll alliance. This, according to AIUDF leaders, carry the possibility of division in Muslim votes between Congress and Ajmal's party. </p><p>AIUDF was once a major political force in Assam with it even emerging as the largest opposition party by winning 18 Assembly seats in 2011 and became a partner in the Tarun Gogoi-led government more than once. </p><p>But the party's gradual decline in support among the Muslims and BJP's surge in Assam since 2016 led to its downfall in the state politics. </p><p>The AIUDF's tally in Lok Sabha came down from three (out of 14) in 2014 to none in 2024. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Ajmal's party contested with a pre-poll alliance with Congress and won 16 seats. </p><p>This time, however, Congress decided to maintain distance from Ajmal's party given BJP's constant efforts to tag the grand old party as "pro-Muslim" with the saffron party intensifying its campaign on religious lines. </p>
<p>Guwahati: Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the most prominent Muslim face in Assam politics and a former three-time Lok Sabha member, was on Tuesday named as a candidate for the Assembly elections at a time the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the party he founded way back in 2005, gears up for a tough electoral battle. </p><p>This will be 70-year-old Ajmal's first Assembly polls battle since 2006 elections, when AIUDF won 10 out of 126 seats in its maiden electoral contest. </p><p>Ajmal's name figured on top of the party's second list of 12 candidates announced on Tuesday. The party earlier announced nine other candidates and is likely to contest in 30 to 35 seats with focus on Muslim majority seats. </p><p><strong>Tough battle</strong></p><p>Ajmal, however, resigned as MLA in 2009, when he was elected to Lok Sabha from Dhubri, a Muslim dominant seat. Ajmal was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019 but lost the polls in 2024 to Rakibul Hussain of Congress by a margin of over 10 lakh. </p>.No alliance with AIUDF for Assam Assembly polls: Gaurav Gogoi.<p>Ajmal got back to the Assembly polls when AIUDF is expecting a tough battle given Congress's decision against having a 2021-like pre-poll alliance. This, according to AIUDF leaders, carry the possibility of division in Muslim votes between Congress and Ajmal's party. </p><p>AIUDF was once a major political force in Assam with it even emerging as the largest opposition party by winning 18 Assembly seats in 2011 and became a partner in the Tarun Gogoi-led government more than once. </p><p>But the party's gradual decline in support among the Muslims and BJP's surge in Assam since 2016 led to its downfall in the state politics. </p><p>The AIUDF's tally in Lok Sabha came down from three (out of 14) in 2014 to none in 2024. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Ajmal's party contested with a pre-poll alliance with Congress and won 16 seats. </p><p>This time, however, Congress decided to maintain distance from Ajmal's party given BJP's constant efforts to tag the grand old party as "pro-Muslim" with the saffron party intensifying its campaign on religious lines. </p>