As the communally sensitive town of Malegaon gears up for elections to the newly-formed Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) on May 12, the Janata Dal (Secular) party has decided to nominate a notorious local gangster, Abdul Aziz Nazir Ahmed alias Aziz Lallu, who is in jail.
Twenty-eight-year old Aziz has at least 10 cases registered against him in various police stations of Malegaon on various charges, including a murder, five attempted murders, extortion, and illegal possession of arms and narcotics. He had been absconding for six years and was arrested in January last year. Aziz, who is in magisterial custody, is being tried for the charges against him.
State president of JD (S) and former MLA of Malegaon, Nihal Ahmed, admitted that his party had nominated Aziz. "He is in jail and facing trial in some cases, but he has never been convicted," said Ahmed. He felt there was nothing wrong in nominating Aziz, who was just an undertrial.
Incidentally, Nihal is contesting the polls from two wards and his wife and former chairperson of the erstwhile municipal council, Sajeda Nihal Ahmed, from one ward.
The JD (S) was the single largest party in the Malegaon municipal council, which was upgraded to a corporation in December 2001. The JD (S) recently released its election manifesto, which promised basic civic amenities in the town, especially slums. The first list of 42 nominees included 16 former councillors.
Other political parties, too, have
started interviewing aspirants but none have finalised nominees. The local
politics of Malegaon (which has 70 per cent Muslim population) have been
dominated by Nihal, who was elected to the State legislative assembly six
times (in 1967, 1978, 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995) in the past. However,
Shaikh Rashid of the Congress defeated Nihal in the last polls.