Mumbai, Maharashtra (October 29, 2024): Nawab Malik has been officially nominated by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to contest the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar assembly constituency in the upcoming elections. Initially, Malik filed his nomination as an independent candidate but later received the necessary AB form from the NCP. With just five minutes left to submit nominations, he submitted his application and expressed gratitude to Ajit Pawar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has voiced strong objections to Malik’s nomination, escalating tensions within the Mahayuti alliance. Ashish Shelar, the Mumbai BJP president, commented on Malik's candidacy, making it clear that the BJP will not support his campaign.
"BJP's stand on this issue is very clear. We are of the view that all the partners in Mahayuti have the right to declare their own candidates, whoever they want to, but here the question is about NCP's authorised candidate Nawab Malik who has been given a ticket. Time and again, we have made our stand clear about Dawood Ibrahim and the people connected with him. This has been already said by Devendra Fadnavis, and now I am also saying the same," he said.
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"So, there is no question of us campaigning for Nawab Malik. Now remains the question of supporting Sana Malik because she is also a candidate of Mahatyuti. We are of the view that there is nothing against someone, then it should be like that and each Mahayuti candidate is a candidate of BJP," he added.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance has announced candidates for 281 of the 288 assembly seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared candidates for 146 seats, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has announced 78 and Ajit Pawar's NCP has put forward candidates for 51 seats. Four seats have been reserved for smaller parties, including the Republican Party of India (Athavale), Yuva Swabhiman Party, Jan Surajya Shakti Paksha, and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha.