Amid sloganeering and cheers, the BJP’s Murji Patel and the Uddhav Thackery-led Sena’s Rutuja Ramesh Latke filed their nominations for the November 3 Andheri (East) Assembly by-election on Friday, the last day for doing so.
Mr. Patel, a former corporator of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is the joint candidate of the BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Ms. Latke, the wife of late Sena MLA Ramesh Latke, filed nomination papers as the candidate of Maha Vikas Aghadi which comprises the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
This is the first electoral battle between both factions of Shiv Sena after the split in June this year, and the winning party will have a psychological boost ahead of the BMC election.
Both parties tried to outdo one another in a show of strength as several leaders and hundreds of supporters joined long rallies till the Returning officer’s office at BMC School, Gundavali in Andheri (East), raising slogans such as “Murji Bhai tum aage badho, hum tumhare sath hai” (Murji Bhai keep moving forward, we are with you), “Uddhav sahebancha vijay aso” (Uddhav will win), and “Ramesh Latke amar rahe” (Long live Ramesh Latke).
Minister for School Education and Marathi Language Deepak Kesarkar from the Shinde faction, Mumbai BJP president and MLA Ashish Shelar, MLA Nitesh Rane, and MLC Pravin Darekar were with Mr. Patel. Union Minister Narayan Rane made a brief appearance at the rally, while BJP State president Chandrashekhar Bawankule joined their candidate at BMC School.
Expressing confidence that Mr. Patel would win with a margin of over 25,000 votes, Mr. Shelar termed the Thackeray-led Sena group as ‘Radki Sena’ (Crying Sena). “While they were in power, they cried in the name of the Centre. Now, when they are in Opposition they cry in the name of the courts and sometimes Election Commission. If they lose this election, they will blame the Andheri residents,” he alleged.
He further alleged that Mr. Thackeray’s loyalist and MLC Anil Parab brought party workers from Bandra to Dahisar for their rally, as people were not showing up.
Meanwhile, Yuva Sena president and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray, party MPs Gajanan Kirtikar, Anil Desai and Priyanka Chaturvedi, and senior members of MVA accompanied their candidate.
Following the directions of the Bombay High Court, the Mumbai civic body accepted Ms. Latke’s resignation, paving the way for her to file her nomination.
“We are 100% confident that Ms. Latke will get the votes of MVA constituents. There are no two camps of Sena. One is the Sena led by Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the other one is a group of ‘gaddars’ (traitors),” Mr. Aaditya Thackeray said.
Speaking to mediapersons outside BMC School, the former Minister alleged that there was pressure on the Mumbai civic body to not accept her resignation.
He said that people were angry about how a woman (Ms. Latke) was troubled. “They tried their best to ensure that she doesn't contest the elections,” Mr. Aaditya Thackeray said.
Ms. Chaturvedi said that they will ensure Ms. Latke's victory, and defeat the ‘gaddars’.
The newly allotted party symbol ‘Mashal’ (flaming torch) was displayed prominently by Mr. Uddhav Thackeray’s supporters as the rally progressed through the streets of Andheri.
In the 2019 Assembly election, Mr. Patel lost to the late Latke by a margin of 16,965 votes. He contested as an independent as Andheri (East) was given to the Shiv Sena in seat-sharing by the then Sena-BJP alliance.
