NOTA to play spoilsport in Andheri bypoll?

CRPF personnel on duty on Radhekrishna marg during Andheri byelections. Pic/Sameer Abedi

As the Maha Vikas Aghadi will be testing easy waters in the Andheri East Assembly bypoll on Thursday, it is likely to face a rather unusual rival in NOTA (None of The Above), a voters' choice that certain people have been accused of campaigning for. Minus the archrival BJP, the Thackeray Sena's Rutuja Latke is certain to win. The result will be announced on November 6. Her party will be working on Thursday to bring out more and more voters to the polling stations on a day that has been declared a holiday for the constituency.

"The more the turnout, the more the final count for Latke," said a Thackeray Sena leader, adding that polling from across the vote bases of three parties, mainly the Thackeray group and the Congress, will define the road ahead for the alliance that ruled the state for two and a half years. It is MVA's first-ever joint effort after its government collapsed in June this year.

A total of 2.71 lakh citizens are eligible to cast their votes in this bypoll. The voters' turnout in the 2019 contest in which Latke's husband defeated Murji Patel, then a BJP rebel, who withdrew from this poll as the party's official candidate, was about 54 per cent. The late Latke had gained 42.67 per cent votes against Patel's 31.14 per cent. The Congress' Amin Kutty had finished third with a 19 per cent share. NOTA was on the fifth number with a count of 4,311 (2.93 per cent). The NOTA count was only four less than the fourth position.

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Rutuja Latke, Thackeray Sena's candidate for the bypoll. File pic

"Even the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena sympathisers have been urged to come and vote in view of their party president's love for Rutuja's late husband," the leader added. The Sena has not discounted the possibility of the supporters of the rival parties, including the BJP, going out to push the NOTA button.

Latke's party leaders have demanded a probe against the NOTA campaign. Former minister Adv. Anil Parab alleged that clips were being circulated to this effect and voters visited with an appeal and cash. The party has lodged a complaint and submitted purported evidence against unidentified people to the police and election authorities. Parab said the MVA candidate will get 98 per cent of the total votes polled on Thursday.

The BJP withdrew on the last day of confirmation of nomination following appeals by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shinde Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik. Latke entered the electoral politics as a replacement for her deceased husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke. BJP's withdrawal took place in view of a convention that in case of the by-elections necessitated by the death of a sitting MLA or MP, his or her family member is not opposed. But before the withdrawal, much happened politically - the Sena split was endorsed by the Election Commission when it froze the parent party's name and symbol. The warring groups were allotted new names and symbols. The Shinde group did not contest, but the BJP set up its candidate, only to be pulled out after a week of hectic campaigning.

There are seven nominees in the fray, including Latke, who is contesting as the Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate. The polling will test the MVA's cumulative strength when the results come out on Sunday. The unfined Sena has won twice from the constituency, once without the BJP and later with the BJP. The winner of many terms, the Congress has been on a losing streak since 2014. The Congress and NCP have supported the Thackeray Sena this time. Other candidates represent smaller parties and independent

2.93%
NOTA vote share in 2019