Former Malegaon MLA and NCP leader Mufti Ismail, who formally joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) Thursday along with over 20 party corporators, is likely to be the candidate for the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party from Malegaon in the upcoming Assembly elections. He will face sitting Congress MLA Shaikh Asif on the seat. Ismail was reportedly “unhappy” over the NCP leadership’s stand on the triple talaq issue, with the party not having “vociferously opposed” the new law in parliament. He had earlier resigned as NCP’s Malegaon president. Ismail was elected as an MLA from Malegaon in 2009. In 2014, he contested the Assembly polls unsuccessfully on a NCP ticket.
