As Mahayuti combines makes a clean sweep in Maharashtra Assembly elections, many big names continue to struggle, including NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique and MNS leader Raj Thackeray's son Amit Thackeray.
Zeeshan, son of Baba Siddique, who contested from Vandre East Assembly constituency, which covers Mumbai's Bandra East, is currently trailing against Varun Sardesai who is Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aadithya Thackeray's nephew.
After six rounds of counting, Sardesai has won over 17,000 votes so far while Siddique has 13,000 votes. Truptti Bala Sawant of Raj Thackeray's MNS is in the third spot with 7,000 votes.
Siddique is the youngest MLA from Vandre East, having won the seat in 2019 as a Congress candidate. However, this year he shifted allegiance to the NCP. Though it is still not certain, Siddique might still win the seat, considering a sympathy wave in favour of him.
As for Amit Thackeray, who contested from Vandre East, the MNS chief's son is said to be in the third position. After initial counting, Shiv Sena's (UBT) Mahesh Sawant is leading by a margin of 3,336 votes against Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Sada Sarvankar.
Mahim, which is currently held by Sarvankar, is a stronghold of Shiv Sena, but is now split among Shiv Sena Uddhav faction and Shiv Sena Shinde camp. Amit's candidature has further complicated the situation. Mahim was also one of the seats where Mahayuti allies Shiv Sena and BJP disagreed over the candidate, resulting in Sena fielding a candidate on their own despite BJP's rooting for Amit.
MNS, which allied with Mahayuti in Lok Sabha elections, decided to go alone in the Assembly elections.