Names of both Zeeshan Siddiqui and Sana Malik in NCP’s second list of seven candidates

Zeeshan Siddique, the son of deceased NCP veteran Baba Siddique, has been selected as the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) candidate for the Vandre East seat by Ajit Pawar, while Sana Malik, the daughter of senior party leader Nawab Malik, has been selected as the candidate for Anushakti Nagar. Her father is presently the representative for the seat.

Sana Malik and Zeeshan Siddique were both included in the NCP’s second list of seven candidates for the next assembly elections, which was made public on Friday. With this, the NCP has now announced 45 candidates in total. In coalition with the BJP, the Shiv Sena, headed by Eknath Shinde, and several minor parties, the party is running as part of the Mahayuti.

Siddiqui officially joined the NCP on Friday morning at the party headquarters in front of Ajit Pawar before being announced as a contender. His first electoral experience was in the 2019 assembly elections, when he ran as a Congress candidate from the Vande East seat and beat Vishwanath Mahadeshwar of the united Shiv Sena by a margin of 5,790 votes in a triangular race. He will compete against Varun Sardesai, the nephew of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, this time as the NCP candidate.

In February of this year, Baba Siddique, Zeeshan’s father and a well-known Muslim figure in the Congress, defected to the NCP. It was anticipated that Zeeshan would follow in his father’s political footsteps. He was accused of cross-voting in the July 12 legislative council elections, and his future intentions were revealed in August when he took part in the Vandre East constituency’s “Jan Sanman Yatra,” which was headed by NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. On August 30, the Congress subsequently banished him for six years.

“My father, Baba Siddique ji, was a strong believer in hard work and dedication, and he always spoke out for the underprivileged and marginalized groups in society. After being announced as a contender, he said on social networking site X, “As a father, it was his dream to see me win these elections after all the work we have done in Vandre East, and now it is my duty to fulfill his dream and serve the people.”

“I am grateful to Shri Ajit Dada Pawar for his unwavering support and for entrusting me with the responsibility to contest with the blessings of the people and my father’s guidance,” he added, thanking the NCP leadership. In order to forward the cause my father devoted his life to serving the people of Vandre East and beyond, I will seek the mandate of the people and put in endless effort,” he said.

Sana Malik’s father, Nawab Malik, who had served as Anushakti Nagar’s representative thrice, wanted her to run for office from the seat and had asked the party leadership for permission to do so. Malik himself intends to run against Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi from the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar seat. Since the BJP leadership is pressuring the NCP to not nominate Malik as a Mahayuti candidate from the seat, he is anticipated to run as an independent.

Anushakti Nagar is where I was nominated. I don’t see any problems since everyone is with us. After being announced as a contender, Sana stated, “Let them field anybody.”

Sanjaykaka Patil and Pratap Chikhalikar, two former BJP MPs, were also admitted into the NCP on Friday and announced as candidates for the next elections. The NCP (SP) candidate Rohit Patil, the son of former state home minister RR Patil, will face Patil, who was nominated from the Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal assembly seat in Sangli.

The Loha assembly seat has nominated Chikhalikar. Earlier this year, Patil and Chikhalikar, who were from Sangli and Nanded, respectively, had lost the Lok Sabha elections.

The second list also included Sunil Tingre, who came under heavy fire when it was believed that he had meddled in the Porsche disaster that killed two people in Pune. He has been selected as the contender for Pune’s Vadgaon Sheri assembly seat.