Akhtarul Iman said that he entered politics when he was a student. In 1985, he joined a campaign led by Moulana Mohammad Hai against burglars and dacoits. Iman said that he joined the campaign as "the police and administration were hand in glove with them." In Bihar Assembly Elections February 2005, he contested from Kishanganj on a Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket and was elected. He also retained the seat in October 2005 election as well and remained as MLA of Kishanganj till 2010.[4]
In 2010 he was elected as MLA from Kochadhaman and resigned in 2014. In February 2013, when students were being made to do the YogaAsana of Surya Namaskar (allegedly bowing down to Hindu sun God Surya), Iman said that the government was trying to implement the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a Hindu right wing organization) ideology in the state.[5]
In August 2015, Iman joined Hyderabad based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and in November 2015, Iman was made a candidate for the party from the Kochadhaman seat in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. In the rallies, the party workers hailed him as Sher-e-Bihar (Tiger of Bihar) and was projected as Bihar's Asaduddin Owaisi (the party's national chief). He said that if people of the Paswan and Yadav community can have their own political parties, then Muslims should also have their own.[8] He was also the party's president for Bihar state.[9]
However, he lost the election to Mujahid Alam of Janata Dal (United). Iman polled 37,000 votes compared to Alam's 56,000.[10]
