Andheri East Bypoll: Biggest RELIEF for Uddhav Thackeray, Bombay High Court asks THIS to BMC

Maharashtra Politics: The Bombay High Court, while giving a hearing on this matter, gave a clear direction to the Mumbai Municipal Administration that they should accept the resignation of Rituja Latke by 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. Also, the court has ordered that the municipal commissioner should give a clear reply to Rituja Latke regarding the approval of her resignation and inform the court.

Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena group got the biggest relief from the High Court today. After the death of late MLA Ramesh Latke, the seat of Andheri East constituency was vacant. A by-election was announced for this seat by the Election Commission. BJP have already announced candidates for this by-election. But, Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray was in trouble for the last two to three days. Because Ramesh Latke's wife, Rituja Latke, was working for the Municipal Corporation. She had resigned from her municipal job. But until that resignation was approved, she could not file the nomination form for the by-election. Interestingly, only two days were left to fill out the nomination form. But her resignation was not accepted by the municipal administration. So we saw a big political uproar in the state. Many different developments took place. Finally, the Thackeray group went to the Bombay High Court for the seniors of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to accept the resignation of Rituja Latre. The Bombay High Court gave relief to Latke in this matter.

Direction of Bombay High Court 

The Bombay High Court, while giving a hearing on this matter, gave a clear direction to the Mumbai Municipal Administration that they should accept the resignation of Rituja Latke by 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. Also, the court has ordered that the municipal commissioner should give a clear reply to Rituja Latke regarding the approval of her resignation and inform the court. This is a big relief for Rituja Latke and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena group. Now the entire state is paying attention to what exactly will happen in the Andheri East by-election.

Andheri East By-Election: BJP Candidate

The BJP has already announced its candidate for the Andheri East by-election. Murji Patel has been announced as a candidate by the BJP. Interestingly, Murji Patel has also started vigorous campaigning in the constituency. But there is no certainty as to what will happen in politics. Because in view of the events of the last two days, there is talk that a candidate from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's group will contest the Andheri East by-election. Therefore, there is an atmosphere of confusion in the BJP fold. Interestingly, Murji Patel has also commented on this. Patel has responded to the media that he will not stand for the by-election if the party tells him.

Prestige Fight for Eknath Shinde 

On the other hand, many developments are happening in Eknath Shinde's group. Various discussions are going on about who exactly will be the candidate for the Shinde group. But a decision is likely to be taken by late tonight. The candidate for the by-election was announced by the BJP for many days. But the court battle between the Shinde group and the Thackeray group last week is likely to have delayed the decision to field a candidate from the Shinde group for the by-election. The Election Commission has announced provisional new names and symbols for both the Shinde and Thackeray factions for the Andheri by-election. Therefore, there is a discussion that perhaps the Shinde group is more insistent on fielding its candidate for this seat.

'Plan B' of Uddhav Thackeray

On the one hand, developments were taking place in the BJP and Shinde group to decide the candidate and the strategy for the by-elections, while on the other hand, the developments were happening at a very fast pace in the Thackeray group. Thackeray group candidate Rituja Latke's resignation was not accepted by the Municipal Corporation. So her candidature was in danger. The information came from sources that if the resignation of Rituja Latke was not accepted by the Municipal Corporation, Plan B was being prepared by the Thackeray group. But in the meantime, there were signs of factionalism among local ex-Corporators of Shiv Sena. All these developments were happening in parallel. Meanwhile, the High Court gave relief to Rituja Latke. So, now there is a high possibility that Rituja Latke will contest the by-election from the Thackeray group.