Owaisi moves petition, review plea in SC over SIR, says AIMIM fighting exercise legally, politically

Speaking to reporters, Owaisi said the petitions were filed through his lawyer, Advocate Nizam Pasha, and included examples from various states.

We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court through our lawyer, Advocate Nizam Pasha, and we have also filed a review petition. Our purpose in approaching the Supreme Court is that, legally, the Election Commission has to work collectively. It is not clear whether the decisions taken were unanimous or whether there was a dissenting voice, Owaisi said.

He said the party had also filed a review petition in connection with the Supreme Court's judgment on SIR, adding that certain aspects of the process required clarification.

In the Bihar SIR case, we were petitioners. We do not understand how the statutory form was changed in the enumeration form, and we do not have any material on this. We have included all these issues in a detailed petition before the Honourable Supreme Court, he said.

On the political situation in Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi said AIMIM was making efforts to form an alliance to prevent the BJP from returning to power in the state for a third consecutive term under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

We are trying to form an alliance, and even today we are making efforts in that direction so that the BJP government does not return to power in Uttar Pradesh for the third time, he said.

Asked about the October 2 deadline he had set for the alliance discussions, Owaisi said talks were still underway.

We had given October 2 as the deadline, but our discussions are continuing. Once the talks are complete and we reach some conclusion, we will inform you, he said.

Responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks that the Congress would perform worse in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and the BJP would return to power, Owaisi said his party would work to prevent the BJP from forming the government.

We will make every effort to ensure that their government does not come to power in 2029. Our effort has always been to defeat the BJP, he said.

Owaisi also defended AIMIM's work against SIR, asserting that the party had been actively raising concerns over the exercise in Telangana for the past three to three-and-a-half months.

You are witnesses to the work we have done. For the last three to three-and-a-half months, no political party in Telangana has done as much work on SIR as the AIMIM, he said, adding that party workers had identified alleged shortcomings and approached the Chief Electoral Officer and the Election Commission.

He said AIMIM had also worked on the issue in Maharashtra, Delhi and three districts of Uttarakhand, while helping people irrespective of their religion or community.

Owaisi further said that since the Supreme Court had delivered its judgment on SIR, his party had chosen to pursue a review petition while continuing its political opposition to the exercise.

We are against SIR from the beginning. We are working legally, politically and publicly, and even today we have approached the Supreme Court, he said.

Emphasising that no political party had exclusive ownership over the issue, Owaisi said AIMIM would continue to oppose the exercise.

We are a political party. We believe this is wrong, we are speaking against it and we are fighting against it. Nobody is the sole representative of an issue, he said. (ANI)