Student Activist Sharjeel Imam Set To Contest Bihar Assembly Polls

Bihar Elections 2025: Sharjeel Imam, a research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and a Muslim student activist who has been in jail for protesting against citizenship laws, will contest the Bihar Assembly elections set to be held in October or November as an independent candidate.

Imam, who is originally from Kako village in Jehanabad, Bihar, would contest the polls from the Bahadurganj constituency in Kishanganj district, the Scroll.in quoted his lawyer, Ahmad Ibrahim, as saying. Currently, the seat is held by Mohammad Anzar Nayeemi, who seized it in 2020, representing the All India Majlis‑e‑Ittehadul Muslimeen; he has since aligned with the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Also Read | Four Years Of Blatant Injustice: Sharjeel Imam ‘The Beacon Of Resilience’

Imam has been in Jail since January 2020, after the historic agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He was charged under draconian laws, including sedition and the UAPA, by five Indian states for his speeches against the CAA and NRC. Following an intense hate campaign on the Internet and repeated government notices, the PhD student from Bihar surrendered to the Delhi Police on 28 January 2020.

In his speeches, the student activist had called for a road blockade as a method of protest against the CAA. The police in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh registered FIRs against him, and according to their chargesheets, his speech was labeled as secessionist and inflammatory.

Also Read | Hope In The House Of The Living Dead: Umar Khalid Pens Behind Prison Bars

The police alleged that his speeches had led to protests at Jamia Millia Islamia University and contributed to tensions in the days leading up to the 2020 Northeast Delhi pogrom. The Delhi Police booked Imam in the Delhi pogrom conspiracy case as well as in the Jamia protest case.

His bail plea in the Delhi violence conspiracy case under UAPA has been pending for two years and nine months in the Delhi High Court. Over the past three years, there have been 70 hearings regarding his bail plea, with seven different benches hearing the case. Three judges have even recused themselves.