Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday sought the unopposed election of Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, in the Andheri East Assembly bypoll scheduled for November 3. Thackeray appreciated Pawar’s statement and said it showed the culture of Maharashtra, adding the death of a dedicated party worker causes tremendous pain to the outfit as well as to the family.
Rutuja Latke, the wife of Ramesh Latke, whose death necessitated the bypoll, is up against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Murji Patel.
Incidentally, October 17 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. “The term for the new member (MLA) will be just one-and-half years. The bypoll is being held because of the unfortunate death of Ramesh Latke. His wife is contesting the seat. Latke was a corporator and an MLA. His contribution must be taken into consideration,” Pawar said.
Huge efforts go into fighting bypolls, which is not required when the term is just for around one year, he said, adding that five to six months are spent with the election code of conduct in place.
He also hailed the Bombay High Court order directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to accept the resignation of Rutuja Latke so that she could fight the bypoll.
It is good the High Court showed proper direction to the concerned authorities, Pawar added.
“When a dedicated party worker dies suddenly, it is tremendous pain not just to the political party but also the family members of the dead person,” Thackeray said, adding that his party had not fielded candidates in bypolls necessitated by the deaths of the BJP’s Gopinath Munde and NCP’s RR Patil.
“The Shiv Sena family is grateful to Pawar. Under guidance from seniors, I hope state politics will protect ethics and culture,” he said.
He said efforts were made to prevent Rutuja Latke from contesting the polls but justice prevailed with the HCV asking BMC to accept her resignation.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Navirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray wrote to Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis not to field his party’s candidate for the bypoll as “reverence” to late Ramesh Latke.
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