Mumbai: Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), on Sunday won the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai.
The November 3 byelection, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA and Rutuja Latke's Ramesh Latke in May this year, was a mere formality after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its candidate from the race.
This was 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.
Latke addressed the media
While addressing the media, Rutuja Latke dedicated her victory to her late husband, Ramesh Latke. She also expressed gratitude towards all party workers of MVA.
While talking to the media Latke said, "The NOTA votes were the votes of BJP. BJP knew they would get around 10 to 11 thousand votes in the election. Hence, they withdrew nomination."
While talking about low percentage of vote she said that it has been that there is a low percentage of voting in bypolls. However, she claimed that the 90 percent people of Andheri have voted for her.
Latke also promised to finish the work that her late husband had declared in his menifesto.
She will receive wining certificate from election officer and will visit Matoshri Bungalow is residence of Uddhav Thackeray to receive his blessings.
Murji Patel, BJP candidate who had withdrwan from fighting against Latke spoke to media
Murji Patel, BJP candidate from Andheri, who had withdrwan his nomination against Latke, congratulated her for winning the bypolls. While talking to the media, he refuted the calim that Shiv Sena that BJP was campaiging for NOTA. He also pointed out that 1,90,000 voters refrained from voting. He said,"Where are the votes of NCP and Congress, if BJP would have contested, it would have received more than 1,20,000 votes."
Upcoming BMC elections
Patel said that the BJP will show its strength in the upcoming BMC elections,"There are 5 corporators of BJP in Andheri East, we will show our strength in upcoming BMC elections," he said.
Aaditya Thackeray congratulated Latke
"The victory in the Andheri by-election today was won by Mr. Latke, it is the work of Ramesh Latke ji, it is the loyalty, it is the stubbornness of the Shiv Sainiks and it is the strong faith of the people on Shiv Sena, Uddhavsaheb! The wave of energy generated by this victory is sure to spread across Maharashtra!" Tweeted Aaditya Thackeray.
At the beginning, election officers counted the postal votes in which Uddhav faction leader Rutuja Latke secured the maximum number of votes. At 8.30 am, the process of counting EVM machine votes started. There is one table for the postal ballot, and 14 tables are for EVM machine vote counting. There will be 19 rounds of vote counting. Results of all the rounds are being displayed on the LED screen outside the counting booth.
Postal ballot
The total number of votes received by the candidates in the postal counting of the election held in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha constituency '166 - Andheri East' of Mumbai Suburban District is as follows:
Rutuja Latke- 283
Bala Nadar - 9
Manoj Nayak - 12
Neena Khedekar- 20
Farhana Syed- 6
Milind Kamble- 10
Rajesh Tripathi- 2
Nota -30
Invalid votes - 22
Total votes : 394
After the nineteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 66,247
Bala Nadar - 1,506
Manoj Nayak - 888
Neena Khedekar- 1,511
Farhana Syed- 1,087
Milind Kamble- 614
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,569
Nota - 12,776
Total votes : 86,198
After the eighteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 65,335
Bala Nadar - 1,485
Manoj Nayak - 875
Neena Khedekar- 1,489
Farhana Syed- 1,058
Milind Kamble- 606
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,550
Nota - 1,2691
Total votes : 85,089
After the seventeenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 61956
Bala Nadar - 1390
Manoj Nayak - 842
Neena Khedekar- 1394
Farhana Syed- 1000
Milind Kamble- 584
Rajesh Tripathi- 1452
Nota - 12166
Total Votes : 80784
After the sixteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 58,875
Bala Nadar - 1,334
Manoj Nayak - 812
Neena Khedekar- 1,347
Farhana Syed- 971
Milind Kamble- 567
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,380
Nota - 11,569
Total votes : 76,855
After the fifteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 55,946
Bala Nadar - 1,286
Manoj Nayak - 785
Neena Khedekar- 1,276
Farhana Syed- 932
Milind Kamble- 546
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,330
Note - 10,906
Total votes : 73,007
After the fourteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 52,507
Bala Nadar - 1,240
Manoj Nayak - 748
Neena Khedekar- 1,190
Farhana Syed- 897
Milind Kamble- 519
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,291
Nota - 10,284
Total votes : 68,676
After the thirteenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 48,015
Bala Nadar - 1,151
Manoj Nayak - 708
Neena Khedekar- 1,156
Farhana Syed- 859
Milind Kamble- 499
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,211
Notes - 9,547
Total votes : 63,146
After the twelveth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 45,218
Bala Nadar - 1,109
Manoj Nayak - 658
Neena Khedekar- 1,083
Farhana Syed- 819
Milind Kamble- 479
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,149
Nota - 8,887
Total Votes : 59,402
After the eleventh round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 42,343
Bala Nadar - 1.052
Manoj Nayak - 622
Neena Khedekar- 948
Farhana Syed- 753
Milind Kamble- 455
Rajesh Tripathi- 1,067
Nota - 8,379
Total votes : 55,619
After the tenth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 37469
Bala Nadar - 975
Manoj Nayak - 584
Neena Khedekar- 898
Farhana Syed- 720
Milind Kamble- 428
Rajesh Tripathi- 986
Nota - 7,556
Total votes : 49,616
After the ninth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 32,515
Bala Nadar - 897
Manoj Nayak - 543
Neena Khedekar- 863
Farhana Syed- 667
Milind Kamble- 409
Rajesh Tripathi- 889
And Nota - 6,637
Total Votes : 43,420
After the eighth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 29,033
Bala Nadar - 819
Manoj Nayak - 458
Neena Khedekar- 789
Farhana Syed- 628
Milind Kamble- 358
Rajesh Tripathi- 787
Nota-5,655
Total Votes : 38,527
After the seventh round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 24,955
Bala Nadar - 733
Manoj Nayak - 416
Neena Khedekar- 646
Farhana Syed- 545
Milind Kamble- 312
Rajesh Tripathi- 679
Nota - 4,712
Total votes : 32,998
After the sixth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 21,090
Bala Nadar - 674
Manoj Nayak - 398
Neena Khedekar- 587
Farhana Syed- 448
Milind Kamble- 291
Rajesh Tripathi- 621
Nota -4,338
Total votes : 28,447
After the fifth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 17,278
Bala Nadar - 570
Manoj Nayak - 365
Neena Khedekar- 516
Farhana Syed- 378
Milind Kamble- 267
Rajesh Tripathi- 538
Nota -3,859
Total votes : 23,771
After the fourth round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 14,648
Bala Nadar - 505
Manoj Naik - 332
Meena Khedekar- 437
Farhan Syed- 308
Milind Kamble- 202
Rajesh Tripathi- 492
Note-3,580
Total Votes : 16,092
After the third round of counting
Rutuja Latke- 11,361
Bala Nadar - 432
Manoj Naik - 207
Meena Khedekar- 281
Farhan Syed- 232
Milind Kamble- 202
Rajesh Tripathi- 410
Nota -2967
Total Votes : 16,092
After second round of counting
Rutuja Latke --- 7,818
Bala Nadar--- 339
Manoj Naik--- 113
Meena Khedekar--- 185
Farhana Sayed--- 154
Milind Kamble--- 136
Rajesh Tripathi --- 223
Nota--- 1,470
Total counting votes --- 10,437
After death of Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Latke by polls were held
Voting for the by-election, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year, was held on November 3 and witnessed a low voter turnout of 31.74 per cent.
Rutuja Latke is wife of Ramesh Latke
Rutuja Latke, the wife of Ramesh Latke, is expected to win comfortably after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its nominee from the byelection.
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.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, have supported Rutuja Latke's candidature.
