Few boosts, many setbacks: Will Humayun Kabir's AUJP split minority votes in Bengal polls

EXpelled TMC leader Humayun Kabir is all go under for a debut in the w Bengal gathering elections after he floated Aam Janata Unnayan company (AUJP) in a call to challenge Mamata Banerjee's party.Kabir, who enjoys influence in his native Murshidabad, has been in the news ever since breaking away from TMC last year, emerging as a roadblock to the ruling camp in its attempt to consolidate minority voters.Ever since the Bharatpur MLA announced his decision, there have been speculations whether AUJP will be successful in splitting Muslim vote bank, which has been with the TMC in the last few elections.Kabir's party has however met with few boosts, but many setbacks. The biggest boos for Kabir's newly formed party was when Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM decided to enter into an alliance for the assembly polls. However, the union was short lived.From Babri row to video stingHumayun Kabir shot to spotlight last year after a rift with TMC following his controversial role in laying the foundation for a proposed Babri Masjid in Murshidabad district on December 6, the anniversary of the mosque's demolition in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.The TMC suspended him for defying party discipline and provocative statements, while Kabir remained in the spotlight amid attacks from the BJP."I will be kingmaker after the elections. No one can form a government without my support," Kabir said ahead of launching his party in December last year."I have said that I will contest in 135 seats. You will see that the party I form will win so many seats that whoever goes to take oath as the chief minister will need the support of my party's MLAs," he added.Cut to April 2026, Kabir was again in news after a video purportedly showed him claiming that he was in touch with BJP leaders and mobilising Muslim voters against the TMC in exchange for ₹1,000 crore. He rejected the video as a conspiracy while the BJP rejected suggestions of any links with Kabir.The controversy led to AIMIM snapping ties with the AJUP. Owaisi's party has said it would go solo in the Bengal elections.Does Humayun Kabir matter in Bengal polls?Before the alliance went awry with AIMIM, Kabir had announced a list of 154 candidates for the Bengal polls. He had already declared the names of 15 candidates.Kabir had declared that AUJP will contest 182 of the 294 Assembly seats across West Bengal. The party has fielded non-Bengali Muslim candidate Poonam Begum against chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur seat.However, the party has suffered several setbacks even before the polls have begun. The party's prospect to consolidate minority vote bank has met with upset with AIMIM walking out of alliance. Bengal has a sizeable Muslim population, at 27 per cent, one of the highest in the country.The party's Bengal president, Khobayeb Amin, has also quit following the sting video controversy.Kabir has maintained that AJUP has remained strong in Muslim-majority pockets and claimed his party could emerge victorious in constituencies such as Raghunathganj, Suti, Naoda and Lalbagh. He has claimed that his party could win as many as 100 seats in the state.