Sena candidate beats Azmi's son in Mumbai by-poll

Shiv Sena candidate Rupesh Mhatre won the by-polls held in Bhiwandi (East), Mumbai, by a margin of 1,676 votes on Saturday.

The by-poll was held after Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi resigned from the seat as he had also won from Mankhurd in Mumbai in the state assembly polls that were held in October.

Azmi had fielded his son Farhan Azmi to retain the seat for the party. But the presence of Muzaffar Hussain of the Congress split the Muslim votes and hampered Farhan's chances.

The by-poll held on January 20 had witnessed a voter turnout of 42 per cent.

Rupesh Mhatre is a Bhiwandi-based Sena functionary who was given a ticket for the by-poll instead of former Bhiwandi Member of Legislative Assembly Yogesh Patil. In the October 2009 Maharashtra state assembly elections, Sena had fielded Patil, who was defeated by Azmi.

In 2004, Sena managed to win from this Muslim-dominated textile town for the first time when Patil beat the controversial Azmi in the state assembly polls. The saffron party benefited from the decision of the SP and the Congress to contest against each other, as it divides the Muslim vote bank, which comprises 45 per cent of the 2.22 lakh-strong voters.

The electoral results will also hit the Congress, which campaigned actively for the by-poll, with top leaders including Gulab Nabi Azad, Digvijay Singh, Manikrao Thakre, union ministers Pratik Patil and Rajiv Shukla urging the people to vote for Hussain.

Abu Azmi, considered a close confidante of Amar Singh, had brought the leader for campaigning in Bhiwandi despite the latter's decision to resign from the SP. Other star campaigners included SP's filmi brigade of Jaya Prada and Jaya Bachchan.