Uddhav camp's Rutuja Latke wins Andheri bypoll, NOTA comes 2nd

Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), on Sunday won the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai by bagging more than 66,000 votes, followed by 12,806 votes polled in favour of the None Of The Above (NOTA) option, an official said.

Latke got 66,530 votes out of the total 86,570 votes.

The NOTA gives an option to electors not to vote in favour of any of the candidates in an election.

Latke was pitted against six independent candidates.

Of the six independent candidates, Rajesh Tripathi got 1,571 votes, Neena Khedekar 1,531, Bala Nadar 1,515, Farhana Sayed 1,093, Manoj Nayak 900, while Milind Kamble received 624 votes.

The November 3 byelection, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA and Rutuja Latke's husband Ramesh Latke in May this year, was a mere formality after the Bharatiya Janata Party withdrew its candidate -- Murji Patel -- from the race.

This was the first electoral contest in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed in June following a revolt by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.

After the bypoll result came out, Thackeray said Rutuja Latke's victory showed that people were supporting Shiv Sena.

"This is just the beginning of a fight. The (party) symbol is important but people look for the character too. The bypoll results show people support us," Thackeray told reporters after Rutuja Latke called on him at his residence 'Matoshree' following the victory.

"This victory is the beginning of a fight. I appeal to Shiv Sainiks to fight unitedly for all future battles. Our party's name and symbol were frozen for this election, but those who wanted this are nowhere near the electoral ring," Thackeray said in a veiled swipe at the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Targeting the BJP, which had withdrawn its candidate for the bypoll at the last moment, he said Shiv Sena's opponents backed out of the race sensing defeat.

Sena's Ramesh Latke had represented the Andheri (East) Assembly seat twice.

The Shiv Sena had won 56 seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Ramesh Latke's death in May brought its tally down to 55.

In June, 40 Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde revolted against the party leadership, resulting in the collapse of the MVA government.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, supported Rutuja Latke's candidature.