Nawab Malik likely to change seat, will pass baton to Sana

Nawab Malik wants to contest from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and leave Anushakti Nagar to his daughter Sana Malik for her debut

- Manoj Ramakrishnan

The Anushakti Nagar assembly constituency (No. 172) - covering Cheeta Camp, Trombay, Deonar, Mankhurd, and Maharashtra Nagar - resembles neighbouring Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar in many ways. The constituency has many Muslim voters and most of the population lives in slums.

With around 247,000 voters in 2019, the constituency is part of the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency. Its middle-class voters include the government staff and scientists who live in leafy housing colonies like that of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. There are also many high-rise residential buildings here.

In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections, Nawab Malik of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP; now he is with Ajit Pawar) won the seat with 65,217 votes, defeating his rival from the undivided Shiv Sena, Tukaram Kate, who got 52,466 votes. Kate had won the seat in 2014, trouncing Malik, who had earlier clinched the seat in 2009. According to news reports, Malik wants to contest this time from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and leave the Anushakti Nagar constituency to his daughter Sana Malik, who plans to debut in electoral politics. The recent MLA Report Card released by the Praja Foundation has ranked Malik at the bottom of the list of legislators from the city, with a score of 18.