Andheri (E) Bypoll: BJP Withdraws Nomination After Uddhav's Sena Candidate Rutuja Latke Gets MNS, Shinde Group Support

The bypoll on the seat was necessitated after the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.

Maharashtra party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Source : Twitter/@ANI

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party will not contest the November 3 bypoll to Andheri East Assembly seat in Mumbai, Maharashtra party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said on Monday, as reported by the news agency PTI.

This decision of the saffron party comes after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray had appealed to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis not to field BJP's nominee to show reverence to late Ramesh Latke. The bypoll on the seat was necessitated after the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.

"The BJP has decided not to contest the Andheri East bypoll. Murji Patel, who had filed the nomination from the BJP, will now withdraw it. We could have otherwise won the election," PTI quoted Bawankule as saying in Nagpur.

“The BJP had previously also not contested some of the bypolls,” he added. Monday is the last day for withdrawal of nominations for the Andheri East Assembly.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction has fielded Ramesh Latke's wife Rutuja Latke in the byelection. NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday sought the unopposed election of Rutuja Latke in the bypoll.

(With PTI Inputs)