Celebrations in Uddhav camp as Rutuja set to win from Andheri West. Her race is with NOTA

After 10 rounds of counting of Andheri East bypoll on Sunday, Rutuja got 37,649 votes followed by NOTA with 7,556 votes.

Celebrations began early on Sunday at the Uddhav Thackeray camp as Rutuja Latke maintained a lead in the contest from the Andheri East bypoll after several rounds of counting.

Rutuja Latke with former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray. ((Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo))

This is the first election where the candidate is from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) contesting with the new torch symbol following the split in the party after Eknath Shinde faction formed the government with the BJP toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Though it was expected that Rutuja Latke would win with a comfortable margin, it was surprising that the second position so far goes to NOTA (None of the Above). After 15 rounds of counting on Sunday, Rutuja got 55,946 votes followed by NOTA with 10,906 votes. She later secured a win, news agency PTI reported.

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The result of the bypoll became predictable after the BJP withdrew its candidate Murji Patel last month. In the contest necessitated because of the death of Rutuja’s husband Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year, Rutuja is pitted against six candidates, including four independents. The Congress and the NCP and Raj Thackeray’s MNS supported Rutuja’s candidature.

BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar who is in charge of the party’s preparation for BMC polls said, “Such large number of votes for the NOTA option shows rising dissatisfaction and dislike for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. Had we contested the Andheri East seat, things would have been much different.”

Rutuja Latke is a former BMC employee who resigned to contest the election following her husband’s death. Her candidature was unopposed as the state has this tradition when a family member of a deceased contests an election.

Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Anil Parab earlier alleged that some rival political leaders were asking voters to press NOTA button. On the allegation, chief electoral officer of Maharashtra Shreekant Deshpande said it is illegal for any party or candidate to ask people to vote for NOTA after the campaign ends. “If a candidate or political party asks people to use NOTA, it will be considered as campaign, and it will be illegal (as campaigning for the bypoll ended before that)," Deshpande said.

(With inputs from the bureau)