Activist Sharjeel Imam decides not to contest Bihar assembly polls, cites bail rejection, legal hurdles

NEW DELHI: Activist Sharjeel Imam has announced that he and his team have decided not to contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections 2025, attributing the decision to the rejection of his bail plea by the Delhi High Court on September 2 and the subsequent failure to obtain interim relief from the Supreme Court despite moving it on September 9.

Imam said the matter has now been postponed to late October, which leaves him unable to campaign or connect freely with his constituency.

The announcement comes just two days after Imam withdrew his plea before a Karkardooma court seeking interim bail to contest the elections. His counsel, Advocate Ahmad Ibrahim, informed the court that a regular bail plea is already pending before the Supreme Court and that the correct forum for seeking interim bail should also be the apex court.

Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai allowed Imam to withdraw the plea and directed that an appropriate application be filed before the Supreme Court.

In his withdrawn plea, Imam had sought interim bail from October 15 to 29 to contest elections from the Bahadurganj Assembly seat as an independent candidate. He described himself as a “political prisoner and a student activist” and had stated that he wished to represent his home state in elections scheduled to be held in two phases from October 10 to November 16, 2025.

In his latest statement, Imam said, “We are not traditional politicians, we are carriers of a new democratic message about structural changes necessary for the marginalised sections, something absent from the mainstream political discourse, even among those who claim to speak for them.”

He added that the restrictions imposed on him as a political prisoner had made communication with the outside world extremely limited.

“We anticipated this scenario and tried to prepare for it, but with such constraints, one month was simply not enough,” Imam said, explaining that his inability to personally campaign led to the team’s decision not to participate this time.

Imam reiterated that his movement’s primary goal is to promote structural reforms such as decentralisation of power, proportional representation, reservation for minorities across caste groups, and religious autonomy.

“We’ll continue to work towards these ends. Our responsibility is to force those who seek our votes to engage with these fundamental issues,” he said.
Thanking his team for their commitment and the people of Bahadurganj for their engagement and support, Imam said, “I’ll be among them as soon as I am released.”

He also expressed gratitude to “lakhs of people across India” who have shown solidarity with his cause, saying their growing support demonstrates that “our message about structural change has resonated across India and across communities.”

“We consider this an achievement,” Imam concluded. “Our efforts have not been in vain. We have learned many lessons over the last few months that will guide our future course of action and our participation in upcoming elections.” (ANI)