MUMBAI: Battle lines are drawn for the Andheri-East Assembly constituency in Mumbai where by-elections are due November 3. It will be the first election after the exit of the MVA government following a vertical split in the Shiv Sena headed by Uddhav Thackeray.
The main battle is between BJP’s Murji Patel and Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s Rutuja Latke. The two candidates filed their nomination papers on Friday. The other faction of Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde has decided to support the BJP candidate.
The by-election was necessitated after the death of Rutuja Latke’s husband and incumbent Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke. The Thackeray-led faction will strain every nerve to prove that it still holds sway in its stronghold. A win in the Marathi-dominant constituency also means a fillip for the Eknath Shinde camp and the BJP.