Former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party group headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, lost from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar constituency by a margin of nearly 40,000 votes in the Assembly elections in Maharashtra on Saturday, data from the Election Commission showed.
Malik ended up at fourth place with 15,501 votes. The Samajwadi Party’s Abu Asim Azmi won the seat with over 54,000 votes. In second, with more than 42,027 votes, was All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate Ateeque Ahmad Khan.
Suresh Patil from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena faction was placed third.
In the Bandra East Assembly seat, Zeeshan Siddique, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s candidate and son of former state minister Baba Siddique, lost by 11,365 votes. Baba Siddique was shot dead, allegedly by three men, on October 12.
The Bandra East seat was won by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s Varun Satish Sardesai by a margin of 11,365 votes. While Zeeshan Siddique secured 46,343 votes, Sardesai received 57,708 votes.
In 2019, Malik had won the state elections from the Anushakti Nagar constituency. Zeeshan Siddique had won the Bandra East seat on a Congress ticket that year. However, he was expelled from the party in August.
Follow Scroll’s coverage of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election result here
The ruling Mahayuti alliance – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena group led by Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar – is headed for an overwhelming victory in the Assembly elections.
At 6.45 pm on Saturday, the alliance had won 158 seats and was leading in 73 others.
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi won 32 seats and was leading in 13 others, according to Election Commission data. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 16 seats and was ahead in four seats, the Congress won 10 seats and was ahead in five and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Sharad Pawar won six seats and was leading in four others.
Also read: In Maharashtra’s crowded field, Opposition could stand out by tapping state’s progressive tradition