New Delhi: Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), on Sunday won the Andheri (East) assembly seat in Maharashtra.
"This victory is of my husband & the development works he did in Andheri. I'll go to the election centre now & later to Matoshree to seek blessings," Rutuja Latke said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
The counting of votes for the Andheri (East) byelection began on Sunday morning at a civic-run school in Mumbai. According to news agency PTI, as many as 200 officials were involved in the counting process which commenced at 8 am. There were 19 rounds of counting.
The Mumbai Police deputed 300 personnel to maintain law and order, according to an official statement.
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Voting for the by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year. The bypoll was held on November 3 and witnessed a low voter turnout of 31.74 per cent.
Ramesh Latke's wife Rutuja Latke had a comfortable win against six independent candidates.
Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its nominee from the byelection. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, have supported Rutuja Latke's candidature.
Politicians across the board supported Rutuja in honour of Ramesh Latke's political journey as Raj Thackeray described, “Ramesh Latke was an old colleague and I have personally seen his political growth from a humble party worker to an MLA. I felt there is no need to contest against his wife, as there is not much time left for the next Assembly elections.”
This is the first electoral contest in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed in June following a revolt by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.
Shinde subsequently became chief minister in an alliance with the BJP.
(With Agency Inputs)