BJP pulls out of Andheri East bypoll; decision linked to BCCI election?

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday pulled out its candidate from the Andheri east assembly bypoll contest on the last day of the withdrawal of nominations, paving the way for the easy victory of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction's nominee Rutuja Latke.

A day earlier Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray had pitched for an unopposed contest and withdrawal of BJP's candidate as per "political traditions" in the state.

An official said seven candidates withdrew on the last day, leaving as many others in the poll arena -- four of them Independents.

The byelection is scheduled on November 3.

However, the victory of Rutuja Latke, the wife of MLA Ramesh Latke whose death necessitated the byelection, is a foregone conclusion. The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.

“The BJP has decided not to contest the Andheri East bypoll. Murji Patel, who had filed the nomination from the BJP, will withdraw it," Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said in Nagpur and added that the BJP would have won the byelection.

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.

"The BJP had previously also not contested some of the bypolls,” Bawankule said.

Reacting to the BJP's announcement, Rutuja Latke said she was indebted to everyone who worked to make this election an uncontested battle.

Pawar on Sunday sought the unopposed election of Rutuja Latkel, while Raj Thackeray had appealed to Fadnavis not to field BJP's nominee to show reverence to the late Ramesh Latke.

Rutuja Latke said many political leaders like Raj Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction's Pratap Sarnaik appealed to the BJP to withdraw its nomination.

“I thank them. I will meet our leader Uddhav Thackeray for the next course of action,” she added.

Reacting to the development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the BJP tried to maintain the state's political tradition of not contesting a bypoll, if kin of a deceased legislator enter the fray by withdrawing from the Andheri-east byelection contest.

“We have seen that whenever there is such an election, the polls are held unopposed. I held discussions with Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on this," Shinde told reporters.

Union minister and BJP MP Raosaheb Danve said the decision to withdraw from the bypoll contest was taken "collectively" respecting the "culture of Maharashtra".

The NCP and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the BJP might have decided to withdraw as they have sensed a defeat in the bypoll.

State Congress president Nana Patole claimed Pawar's appeal for the unopposed contest could be linked to the BCCI elections which the NCP chief and Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar are contesting jointly.

NCP state president Jayant Patil said the state government tried harassing Rutuja Latke. "The BMC administration first delayed accepting her resignation, made her approach the Bombay High Court and also claimed that there were corruption charges against her," he said.

“The BJP and Shinde faction may have realised that they would face a very humiliating defeat against Latke. We appreciate that better sense prevailed finally,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Council and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist, Ambadas Danve, welcomed the BJP's decision.

Raj Thackeray on Monday thanked Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for the BJP's decision to withdraw its candidate from the bypoll contest.

In a letter written to Fadnavis, Thackeray referred to the senior BJP leader as his “dear friend” and said it is essential to have a positive political culture.

Speaking to reporters on the premises of a court, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, "The BJP had conducted a survey which predicted that their candidate (Murji Patel) would lose the bypoll by at least 45,000 votes. This is the reason they decided to withdraw.

Queried on Raj Thackeray's letter to Fadnavis on Sunday, Raut replied “this is all scripted”.

Murji Patel said he will follow the party's decision and will not contest the bypoll as an independent”.

Andheri east assembly constituency is one of the 26 constituencies located in the Mumbai Suburban district. It is a part of the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency.

Late Ramesh Latke snatched this seat from Congress in 2014.

In the 2019 elections, Latke got 62,680 votes. BJP's Murji Patel, who contested as an independent, got 45,680 votes. Congress's Amin Kutty came third with 27,925 votes.