Asaduddin Owaisi is the new name of the existential challenge facing the political parties positioned against the Bharatiya Janata Party. These parties badmouth Owaisi as the vote-cutter or the BJP's B team, but fail to analyse why he has started to convert the Muslim community's admiration of him into victories for his party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which won five out of the 20 seats it contested in the Bihar Assembly election. Apart from these five, the party did not contribute to the defeat of even one Grand Alliance candidate.

Yet the AIMIM's performance in Bihar confirmed the trend observed in Maharashtra last year – a segment of Muslims no longer votes on their perception of which party or formation is best placed to oust or keep away the BJP from power. In the Maharashtra Assembly election, the AIMIM won two seats and came second in four out of the 44 constituencies it was in the fray.