Nawab Malik, former Maharashtra minister and a leader of NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction, filed two nomination forms for Mumbai’s Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly seat today, setting off high drama as many wondered if a pre-poll shocker is on the cards.

The senior leader filed two nomination forms, one as a candidate of NCP (Ajit Pawar) and another as an Independent. The move sparked a buzz. Later in the day, however, Mr Malik said he is NCP’s official candidate. “Today, I filed a nomination from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Vidhan Sabha constituency as NCP candidate. I filed the form as an Independent candidate too. But the party has sent the AB form and we submitted it at 2.55 pm. Now I am an official candidate for NCP,” he said.

“I am very thankful to Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare. They have confidence in me… A huge number of voters will support me… I am very confident we will win Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar constituency this time,” Mr Malik said.

Earlier, the senior politician said the party’s AB form had not been submitted. “If the AB form is submitted in time, I will contest as a party candidate. If not, I will fight independently as per the people’s wish,” he said.

An AB form is submitted by a political party, confirming its candidate for a particular seat.

Nawab Malik currently represents Anushakti Nagar seat in Mumbai. This time, Ajit Pawar’s NCP has fielded his daughter Sana Malik from this seat. Sana Malik is up against Fahad Ahmed, who recently joined the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar. Fahad Ahmed is the husband of actor Swara Bhasker.

In the run-up to the November 20 election, Mr Malik had been making a pitch for a poll pass. His remarks were widely seen as attempts to build pressure on the leadership to ensure he gets a ticket. Earlier, he had said people had urged him to contest polls from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar.

“I will be filing my nomination on October 29 from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar Assembly constituency. The public has urged me to contest elections from here. The public is very upset with the hooliganism and drug business going on in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar. The public wants change and I will be contesting the elections from Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar and will surely win…I don’t care who is opposing me, the public is supporting me,” he said.

The Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat is a stronghold of Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi, who has been winning it since 2009.

Nawab Malik faces resistance within the Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar).

The BJP has said it is against his candidature. “We will not accept giving a ticket to someone linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim,” Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP chief, said last week. “We won’t support Malik and will have a different stand,” he added.

Mr Malik was a minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and was arrested in 2022 in an NIA case against Dawood and his associates, including Chhota Shakeel and Tigar Memon. He was granted bail on medical grounds in July this year. He sided with the Ajit Pawar-led faction after the NCP split.

An MLA from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has gone missing after the ticket for his seat, Palghar, was allotted to another. Before going missing, Shriniwas Vanga, had said he was sorry that he ever joined Shinde. His wife said that he wanted to meet Uddhav Thackeray and apologise to him in person. 

The MLA had packed a bag and left home at 7 pm on Monday, and has been unreachable since.  His family said he had been distraught since the seat announcement. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has spoken to Mr Vanga’s wife over telephone. 

Sriniwas Vanga was among the first MLAs to join Mr Shinde in his rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray. He has made it clear that he repents that decision.

Before he went missing, Mr Vanga spoke to the media and said he left a “god-like person (Uddhav Thackeray) for Shinde and now I have been betrayed”. 

He said he was assured that all sitting MLAs will be fielded again in this election. But the ticket for Palghar has been given to former MP Rajdendra Gavit, who left the BJP and joined Mr Shinde ahead of the election. 

Mr Vanga expected to get a ticket from Palghar’s Dahanu. Instead, he has been offered a seat in the legislative council – an offer he had scorned as a “lollipop”. 
 
Breaking down during the media interaction, he said he was “paying the price for being loyal”.

Mr Vanga’s father Chintamani Vanga – a strong Scheduled Tribe leader and a BJP MP from Palghar — had died while in office in 2018. That was when he joined the united Shiv Sena, then a BJP ally. In the by-elections that foillowed, he was fielded by the Shiv Sena but lost to the BJP candidate. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Uddhav Thackeray had made a public statement asking to him to begin campaign, but the constituency ultimately went to their partner, the BJP. But Mr Thackeray ensured that Mr Vanga got a ticket during the state assembly elections from Palghar, which he won.

Given the history between the two, it was a bit of mystery why Mr Vanga joined Mr Shinde. Party leaders say when Mr Shinde was planning to rebel in 2022, Mr Vanga had visited him and invited him to his son’s birthday. 

Mr Shinde reportedly said 40 other MLAs would also join in the celebrations at the hotel. Later, the group had left Mumbai for Palghar and then went to Surat, making the rebellion public.

There is speculation whether Mr Vanga will now return to the fold. Senior leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Sanjay Raut, had earlier been critical of the 42-year-old MLA. This morning, he had gone on record saying “Uddhav Thackeray gave you everything and yet you left the party”. “We have no sympathy for him, because of his karma,” he had said at a press conference.