Ajit Pawar Led NCP Fields Nawab Malik As Party Candidate For Maharashtra Polls Despite BJP's Fierce Opposition—Here's Why

The BJP on Tuesday (29 October) slammed the candidature of Nawab Malik’s nomination, a senior leader of Ajit Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who was backed by the party at the eleventh hour for the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat in Maharashtra's upcoming assembly election.

Malik, who is an accused in an alleged money laundering case involving underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates Chhota Shakeel and Tiger Memon, had filed two nominations.

One of these was as a member of the NCP and the other as an Independent.

However, following the party’s support, he declared himself the official NCP candidate.

"The BJP's stance is very clear. All the parties in the alliance should decide their own candidate," said the party's Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar, NDTV reported.

"The issue is only about Nawab Malik's official candidature from NCP. Devendra Fadnavis has time and again clarified the stance of the party, I say it again: The BJP will not campaign for Nawab Malik. There is no question of us campaigning for him, because we won't endorse anyone who's related to any Dawood or Dawood related case," he added, underscoring the reservations the party expressed earlier as well.

However, the BJP extended the benefit of the doubt to Malik's daughter, Sana Malik, who is the official NCP candidate for the Anushakti Nagar seat, where her father is the sitting MLA.

"As long as we don't get any proof and information about her, all Mahayuti candidates are BJP's candidates," Shelar said.

According to NCP sources cited in the NDTV report, there has been BJP pressure on Ajit Pawar not to give nomination to Nawab Malik.

However, Pawar has reportedly also encountered backlash from within his party, as some members feel he has been excessively compromising.

During the Lok Sabha election, the NCP was allocated only four seats to contest.

For the assembly polls, the NCP received the smallest portion of Maharashtra’s 288 seats, despite contributing an equal number of MLAs to the ruling alliance as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena.

Pawar reportedly needed to assert his influence, and this instance was fitting, as Nawab Malik ranks among the top five leaders of the NCP.

Malik is a prominent face in the Muslim community and the loss of their support had cost the party a lot during the Lok Sabha election.

Traditionally, the NCP maintained good ties with the Muslim community, though Pawar Junior’s partnership with the BJP has strained this base.

Considering the alliance dynamics and BJP’s concerns, the NCP reportedly withheld its public support for Nawab Malik until the final moments—at 2:55 pm, just five minutes before the deadline.

Malik’s main competitor from Mankhurd, three-time Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi, stated that the BJP’s reservations are simply a facade.

Malik's involvement in the race is expected to divide the Muslim vote, potentially affecting the SP candidate’s standing.

This scenario is expected to favour the ruling alliance.

Also Read: Cracks In Mahayuti Before Polls? Despite BJP's Opposition, Nawab Malik Files Nomination As NCP Candidate, Thanks Ajit Pawar