Will BJP withdraw candidate for Andheri bypoll? Eknath Shinde camp seconds Raj Thackeray

Echoing Raj Thackeray, Eknath Shinde camp MLA Pratap Sarnaik urged the Maharashtra CM to ensure that Rutuja Latke is elected unopposed in the Andheri East bypoll. This Assembly seat fell vacant in May after the untimely demise of Shiv Sena's Ramesh Latke who has been winning here since 2014. While the election will be held on November 3, the counting of votes is scheduled for November 6. Even as Ramesh Latke's wife Rutuja wife filed her nomination as a candidate of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction, BJP's Murji Patel is the joint candidate of the ruling alliance.

In a letter addressed to the CM, MLA Pratap Sarnaik opined, "Maharashtra has a unique, unwritten political culture. When a public representative passes away, it is a custom to ensure that his family member is elected unopposed. MNS chief Raj Thackeray has also expressed his view in a letter that an unopposed election should take place. NCP, Congress and other parties have taken the same stance. In our alliance, this seat has gone to BJP. But as the CM, you should try to ensure an unopposed election by talking to senior BJP leaders."

BJP doesn't rule out withdrawing candidate

Amid the tussle between Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray for control of Shiv Sena, the Election Commission announced the bypoll to the Andheri East Assembly seat. This was seen as the first occasion when Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena and the Eknath Shinde-BJP combine would contest against each other at the Assembly level since the collapse of the MVA government. On October 16, Raj Thackeray appealed to Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis to not put up a candidate against Rutuja Latke. The last day for withdrawing candidature is October 17, i.e today. 

Keeping this option open, Fadnavis said, "Our Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar met him this morning and requested him to support the BJP candidate in the Andheri election. He expressed his opinion at that point in time and wrote me a letter also. He has urged us to not field a candidate there or withdraw him. I alone can't take decisions in BJP. If I have to take a decision regarding this, I need to speak to my associates, and higher-ups as we have announced the candidate. Earlier, we have taken such a decision whenever we got such a request. We took this stance after RR Patil's demise and the election to two Legislative Council seats."