Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Zeeshan Siddique, the son of late politician Baba Siddique, is trailing from Vandre East in Mumbai as votes are being counted for the Maharashtra assembly elections. Uddhav Thackeray's nephew Varun Sardesai of the Shiv Sena (UBT) is leading by over 5,000 votes after eight rounds of counting. Mr Sardesai has won nearly 23,000 votes so far and Mr Siddique 17,000 votes. Truptti Bala Sawant (nearly 9,000 votes) of Raj Thackeray's MNS is in the third spot.
Zeeshan Siddique had joined the Ajit Pawar-led faction last month, following his father's footsteps. Days after Baba Siddique was shot dead by the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang, he had accused the Maha Vikas Aghadi of deserting him and his father.
Mr Siddique, who had won Vandre East in 2019 as a Congress member, was expelled by the party earlier this year amid allegations over crossvoting during the legislative council elections.
Votes are also being counted for the assembly elections in Jharkhand as well as for bypolls to 48 assembly seats and two parliamentary constituencies in 15 different states. All results will be declared today.