The by-election to the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai which is scheduled on November 3 is a mere formality following the withdrawal of the BJP's candidate from the fray last month.
According to a report of PTI, Rutuja Latke, the nominee of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, is expected to register a comfortable win. She is pitted against six candidates- four of them Independents. The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature. The bypoll was necessitated due to death of Rutuja Latke’s husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.
The main aim of the BJP and the Shinde faction is to unseat Thackeray’s Sena from the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) where the elections are due in next few months, they further claimed.