Sharjeel Imam will not contest Bihar 2025 elections due to pending legal issues.
Bail rejection by Delhi High Court prevented him from campaigning freely.
Focus remains on promoting structural reforms and minority rights in India.
Sharjeel Imam, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student and activist, has announced that he and his team will not contest the Bihar Assembly elections in 2025. This decision follows the rejection of his bail plea by the Delhi High Court on 2 September 2025, and the subsequent failure to obtain interim relief from the Supreme Court, which postponed the matter to late October.
Imam, along with Umar Khalid and others, is accused in a larger conspiracy case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, which resulted in significant violence and loss of life. The Delhi High Court denied bail to Imam, stating that his role in the conspiracy appeared "prima facie grave" and that a hurried trial would be detrimental to both the accused and the state.
Imam had planned to contest from the Bahadurganj constituency in Bihar as an independent candidate, aiming to promote structural changes for marginalised communities. He expressed gratitude towards his team and supporters, stating that the movement's message has resonated across India and remains central to their future political efforts.
In his Official Statement, Sharjeel Imam says, "We, my team and I, have decided not to contest the Bihar elections 2025. The main reason for this decision is that my bail was rejected by the Delhi High Court (2 September 2025), and even though we moved to the Supreme Court immediately (9 September 2025), we failed to get interim relief. The matter has been postponed to late October. We expected that I would be out on bail by the time of the election."
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He further added, "We are not traditional politicians; we are carriers of a new democratic message about structural changes necessary for the marginalised sections… However, the state has put hurdles in our path, and I’ll be unable to personally campaign and mingle freely with my constituency… 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 consider this an achievement; our efforts have not been in vain."
