Mock poll will be conducted at 6 a.m. to test the machines before they open for actual polling, Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer Shrikanth Deshpande said
Mock poll will be conducted at 6 a.m. to test the machines before they open for actual polling, Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer Shrikanth Deshpande said
Polling for the Andheri (East) byelection on Thursday has become a lacklustre event as BJP’s candidate Murji Patel is out of the contest. For Uddhav Thackeray’s candidate Rutuja Ramesh Latke, the election is a mere formality with six other candidates – four of them independent, having little significance.
The byelection was necessitated due to the sudden death of Ms. Latke’s husband and Shiv Sena legislator Ramesh Latke following a cardiac arrest in May.
Until the BJP withdrew its candidate last month, the election was seen as the first battle post-split and a litmus test for Mr. Thackeray to prove his strength ahead of the BMC (Mumbai civic body) elections. It was also seen as a trial run for the ensuing BMC elections. The BJP, NCP, Congress and rival groups of Shiv Sena have all been going the extra mile to wrest control of the country’s richest civic body which has an annual budget of about ₹45,900 crore.
However, upholding the political tradition in Maharashtra of not contesting a bypoll if the relative of a deceased legislator enters the fray, the saffron party withdrew its candidate.
The decision was taken after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief and Mr. Thackeray’s estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, and NCP chief Sharad Pawar appealed to Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis to drop their candidate and ensure election of Ms. Latke unopposed in the byelection as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
Snapshot of Andheri (East) constituency
There are 2,71,502 registered voters and the majority of them are lower middle-class and middle-class.
It has around one lakh Marathi voters, followed by 48,000 each of north Indians and Muslims.
According to the local leaders, 35,000 electors are Gujaratis, Marwaris and Jains.
There are more than 16,000 south Indian voters and an equal number of Christian voters.
There are 256 polling booths in the Andheri (East) constituency and polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on November 3.
Counting of votes will be taken up on November 6.
Members of the Uddhav camp have claimed that the BJP pulled out its candidate as they knew they would lose the election.
Despite BJP withdrawing its candidate, the bypoll was necessitated as per schedule as six more candidates were still in the fray. Apart from Ms. Latke, the candidates who remain in the contest include Milind Kashinath Kamble (Independent), Neena Ganpat Khedekar (Independent), Manoj Nayak (Right to Recall Party), Rajesh Ramdular Tripathi (Independent), Farhana Siraj Sayed (Independent), and Bala Venkatesh Vinayak Nadar (Aapki Apni Party (Peoples).
Speaking to Today News 24, Additional Chief Secretary and Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, Shrikanth Deshpande, said everything is in place for the smooth conduct of the byelection on Thursday.
“All polling officials have been deployed. EVMs are at secure locations and a mock poll will be conducted at 6 a.m. tomorrow [Thursday] to test the machines before they open for actual polling,” he said, adding that they have reviewed all security arrangements at polling stations. Mr. Deshpande appealed to voters of Andheri (East) to come in large numbers to exercise their franchise.
The run-up to the byelection saw much political drama. Ms. Latke, an employee of the BMC, approached the Bombay High Court on October 12 as the civic authority was not accepting her resignation. The next day, the court directed the BMC to issue a letter of acceptance to Ms. Latke, paving the way for her to file the nomination papers. The Uddhav group alleged she was being pressured to contest as the candidate of the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction of Sena.
Meanwhile, Sena legislator and former Minister Anil Parab alleged that voters of Andheri (East) were being paid to choose ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option. He said they have raised the issue with the Election Commission as well as the police.
“Some people are being paid money to choose NOTA,” Mr. Parab alleged.