Jailed activist Sharjeel Imam, who is awaiting trial in multiple cases related to the CAA protests in 2019-20, on Friday said he would not contest the Bihar Assembly polls.

Earlier this week, the former JNU student withdrew his plea for interim bail to enter the poll fray.

Sharing Sharjeel’s message on X, his brother Muzzammil wrote: “The main reason for this decision is that my bail was rejected by Delhi High Court (Sept 2, 2025), and even though we moved the Supreme Court immediately (Sept 9, 2025), we failed to get interim relief. The matter has been postponed to late October.”

Muzzammil, along with a group of supporters, had been preparing the ground for Sharjeel to contest from the Bahadurganj seat in Kishanganj district, for which the last date of filing nomination is October 20.

“We did anticipate this scenario and tried to prepare for it, but with extreme restrictions which a political prisoner like me faces, specially in communicating with the outside world, one month was simply not enough, we needed more time. Our primary responsibility is spreading our message about structural change i.e, decentralisation, proportional representation as a method of election, reservation of minorities across caste groups, religious autonomy, etc. We’ll keep working towards that end, we have to force those who seek our votes to address these fundamental issues,” the X post added.

Muzzammil told The Telegraph that Sharjeel wanted to contest the polls not merely to get into the legislature, but to speak up for marginalised communities who were not fully represented.

“The proportion of Muslims and Dalits in places of power is far less than their population…. He chose Seemanchal because it is the most backward part of Bihar and a place with a high population of Muslims. This region, as well as the border districts of Bengal and Assam, will be affected the most by the CAA-NRC,” Muzzammil said.

Speculation was rife that Sharjeel would be fielded by the AIMIM until Muzzammil wrote a long and emotional X post last month responding to Tauseef Alam, the party’s leader in Bahadurganj.

Alam, a former Congress MLA of Bahadurganj, challenged the jailed Sharjeel to contest from his native Jehanabad “if he has any masculinity in him”.

Muzzammil wrote: “I can say with certainty that he absolutely doesn’t know him, otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to question his masculinity with such shamelessness.... But has anyone asked the AIMIM’s high command why Sharjeel Imam wasn’t given a ticket?”