MVA’s Rutuja Latke canters home to expected victory in Andheri East by-poll, SHSUBT accuses BJP of ‘influencing’ voters to vote for NOTA 

Upbeat Uddhav faction exudes confidence in winning crucial BMC poll as well

@the_news_21

Mumbai: Rutuja Ramesh Latke retained the 166-Andheri East assembly seat defeating her nearest rival None Of The Above (NOTA) by a huge margin of 53,724 votes. While Rutuja Latke polled 66,530 votes, her nearest rival NOTA polled 12,806 votes. The other 6 candidates in the fray together polled 7,234 votes, which is still short by 5,572 votes compared to the NOTA votes.

The by-election to the 166-Andheri East assembly constituency was necessitated due to the demise of sitting MLA from the erstwhile Shiv Sena, Ramesh Latke, who passed away in Dubai on May 11 earlier this year. Rutuja Latke retained the assembly seat that her late husband Ramesh Latke had won in the 2019 assembly polls.

Her late husband Ramesh Latke had won the seat in the 2019 assembly elections defeating his nearest Independent rival Murji Patel (Kaka) by a margin of 16,965 votes. Ramesh Latke had polled 62,773 votes, while Murji Patel had polled 45,808 votes.

In the 2014 assembly elections, late Ramesh Latke had won the seat by polling 52,817 votes, defeating his nearest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Sunil L Yadav who had polled 47,338 votes, by a margin of 5,479 votes.

In comparison, in the November 3 assembly by-election to the assembly seat, Rutuja Latke polled 66,530 votes as against 62,773 votes polled by her late husband, a rise of just 3,757 votes. However, the vote share in percentage terms of Rutuja Latke, the official candidate of Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SHSUBT) polled 76.85% votes, NOTA vote share was 14.79% and the other 6 candidates together had a vote share of just 8.6%.

The other 6 candidates who were in the fray polled – Bala Nadar (Aapki Apni Party – Peoples) – 1,515 votes, Manoj Nayak – Right to Recall Party – 900 votes, Neena Khedekar – Independent – 1,531 votes, Farhana Siraj Syed – Independent – 1,093 votes, Milind Kamble – Independent – 624 votes, Rajesh Tripathi – Independent – 1,571 votes and NOTA 12,806 votes.

But what should raise the frown lines for the SHSUBT faction is the steady rise in the number of NOTA votes being polled in the constituency since the 2014 assembly elections.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the NOTA votes polled were just 1,632, a mere 1.07%. In the 2019 assembly elections, the NOTA votes polled were 4,311, a mere 2.93%. As against this in the November 3, assembly by-elections, the NOTA votes polled were 12,806, which is 14.79%, a whopping 13.72% rise since 2014. It does indicate a steady rise in disaffection amongst the voters. 

One reason for the sudden increase in the NOTA votes is being attributed to the surreptitious campaign on social media urging the voters in Andheri East constituency to exercise the option of NOTA.

The voter apathy during the voting on November 3 was quite visible with just 31.74% of the electorate casting their ballot. That meant that nearly 68.26% of the voters had turned their backs on the polls.

Though SHSUBT chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray claims that the victory is a testimony of public support to his faction. But one thing is apparently clear, the results indicate that the committed voters of the SHSUBT did come out to vote for Rutuja Latke. However, the sympathy wave was absent as Rutuja Latke managed to poll 3,757 votes more than what her husband had polled in 2019 polls.

The assembly by-poll did evoke some keen interest and generated some controversy for a while.

The indoctrination for Rutuja Latke into politics began with the controversy over her resignation letter that she had submitted to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) which if it had not been accepted in time would have jeopardized her chances to contest the by-election. The matter was finally settled by the Bombay High Court which directed the BMC to accept her resignation letter with immediate effect.

The BJP had initially announced the candidature of its former BMC corporator, Murji Patel. However, Mumbai BJP unit president Ashish Shelar announced the withdrawal of Murji Patel’s candidature after citing past precedents and traditions of letting the by-polls to be held un-opposed (nearly) by not fielding candidate against the widow of the sitting late legislator and letting her have an easy cakewalk.

Shelar’s announcement came in the aftermath of the crucial elections to the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). Another factor for the BJP to withdraw its candidate from the poll fray was the appeal made by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.

While most of the other contesting candidates withdrew from the poll fray, just 6 candidates remained in the fray. Milind Kamble, an Independent candidate did create a stir by claiming that he was being intimidated and pressured into withdrawing from the poll fray. But the 624 votes he polled later proved that the controversy was short-lived.