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

The byelection to the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai scheduled on Thursday is a mere formality following the withdrawal of the BJPs candidate from the fray last monthRutuja Latke the nominee of the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena faction is expected to register a comfortable win She is pitted against six candidates four of them IndependentsThe NCP and Congress have supported her candidatureThe bypoll was necessitated due to death of Rutuja Latkes husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this yearIt 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 Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA governmentPolitical observers claimed the BJPs 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 hustingsAlso Read Andheri East bypoll Voters being paid to choose NOTA alleges Uddhavled Shiv SenaThe main aim of the BJP and the Shinde faction is to unseat Thackerays Sena from the cashrich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC where the elections are due in next few months they further claimedNationalist 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 partys candidate as per political traditions in the stateBefore 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 electorateThe contest was also being seen as a trial to set the tone for the crucial BMC pollsConventionally 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 exceptionsAfter the MVA government collapsed Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister with the BJPs support on June 30The Thackeray and Shinde factions of the Sena are fighting a legal battle to claim the partys name and the bow and arrow symbol which have been frozen by the Election Commission of IndiaThe EC has allotted mashaal flaming torch symbol to the Thackerayled faction and the shield and sword symbol to the Shinde groupThe run up to the bypoll saw much political drama as the acceptance of Rutuja Latkes resignation from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC was delayedThe Thackeray faction had alleged that she was being pressured to contest as the Shinde group candidateRutuja Latke later approached the Bombay High Court which asked the BMC to accept her resignation saying the use or nonuse of discretion by the civic commissioner in taking a decision on the resignation in this case was arbitraryThe Thackeray faction on Tuesday claimed that voters were being paid to choose None Of The Above or NOTA optionAndheri East is a cosmopolitan area comprising largely Maharashtrian voters north Indians south Indians Christians and MuslimsRamesh Latke the Shiv Sena MLA who died in May this year bagged 62680 votes in the 2019 Assembly pollMurji Patel who had then contested as an independent polled 45680 votes while Congress nominee Amin Kutty stood third with 27925 votesThere are 271502 voters and 256 polling booths in the Andheri East Assembly constituencyPolling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Thursday the counting of votes will be taken up on November 6This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever