Andheri East bypoll result: Rutuja Latke of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction leads, NOTA at 2nd place

Rutuja Latke. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), was on course for a comfortable win in the bypoll to Andheri East Assembly seat in Mumbai by bagging more than 37,000 votes out of the 49,616 votes counted so far on Sunday, followed by 7,556 votes polled in favour of the None of the Above (NOTA) option, reported PTI.

So far, 10 rounds of counting have been completed, an official told PTI.

At the end of the 10th round of counting, Rutuja Latke bagged 37,469 votes out of the 49,616 votes counted so far.

As many as 7,556 votes were so far polled in favour of the NOTA option, leaving the six other independent candidates far behind.

Also Read: Beginner's luck: Who is Rutuja Latke, on whom Uddhav Thackeray has hedged his bets for Andheri bypolls?

The counting of votes began at 8 am on Sunday at a civic-run school in Mumbai.

As many as 200 officials were involved in the counting process. The Mumbai Police have deputed 300 personnel to maintain law and order, according to an official statement.

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, 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.

(With inputs from PTI)

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