Andheri bypoll on Nov 3 mere formality after withdrawal of BJP candidate

Mumbai: The by-election to the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai scheduled on Thursday is a mere formality following the withdrawal of the BJP's candidate from the fray last month.

Rutuja Latke, the nominee of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, is expected to register a comfortable win. She is pitted against six candidates- four of them Independents.

The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.

The bypoll was necessitated due to death of Rutuja Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.

It is the first election after the revolt in the Shiv Sena by Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Political observers claimed the BJP's move to withdraw its candidate was aimed at denying Uddhav Thackeray a morale booster or an upper hand should Rutuja Latke emerge victorious at the hustings.

The main aim of the BJP and the Shinde faction is to unseat Thackeray's Sena from the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) where the elections are due in next few months, they further claimed.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray had pitched for an unopposed contest and withdrawal of the saffron party's candidate as per "political traditions" in the state.

Before the BJP pulled out its candidate Murji Patel from the bypoll race last month, it was being seen as a litmus test for former chief minister Thackeray and an opportunity to assess the general mood of the electorate.

The contest was also being seen as a trial to set the tone for the crucial BMC polls.

Conventionally in Maharashtra politics, the electoral contest is generally avoided if bypolls necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs or MPs are contested by their kin, though there are exceptions.

After the MVA government collapsed, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister with the BJP's support on June 30.

The Thackeray and Shinde factions of the Sena are fighting a legal battle to claim the party's name and the 'bow and arrow' symbol, which have been frozen by the Election Commission of India. The EC has allotted 'mashaal' (flaming torch) symbol to the Thackeray-led faction and the 'shield and sword' symbol to the Shinde group.

The run up to the bypoll saw much political drama as the acceptance of Rutuja Latke's resignation from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was delayed.

The Thackeray faction had alleged that she was being pressured to contest as the Shinde group candidate.

Rutuja Latke later approached the Bombay High Court, which asked the BMC to accept her resignation, saying the use or non-use of discretion by the civic commissioner in taking a decision on the resignation in this case was "arbitrary".

The Thackeray faction on Tuesday claimed that voters were being paid to choose None Of The Above or NOTA option.

Andheri East is a cosmopolitan area comprising largely Maharashtrian voters, north Indians, south Indians, Christians and Muslims.

Ramesh Latke, the Shiv Sena MLA who died in May this year, bagged 62,680 votes in the 2019 Assembly poll.

Murji Patel, who had then contested as an independent, polled 45,680 votes while Congress nominee Amin Kutty stood third with 27,925 votes.

There are 2,71,502 voters and 256 polling booths in the Andheri East Assembly constituency.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Thursday the counting of votes will be taken up on November 6.