1.2 lakh voters did not vote, says BJP candidate who withdrew nomination for Andheri East bypoll

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janta Party candidate Murji Patel who had taken back his nomination from the Andheri by-poll elections, expressed his concern at voters not casting their votes and said that the situation in 2024 would be different.
Earlier on October 17, BJP withdrew its candidate Murji Patel from the Andheri by-poll elections, in a move to support the Uddhav Thackeray faction's candidate Rutuja Latke. "One lakh 20 thousand voters coming under Andheri East assembly constituency stayed away from voting. This shows that the people are with us and are not happy with Shivsena and MVA The picture for 2024 will be different," Murji Patel said.

He went on to wish Rutuja Latke for the elections and said, "Keeping in mind the political culture of Maharashtra, BJP had decided to take the nomination among themselves, had it not been so, the picture would have been different today."
Meanwhile, The winning Shiv Sena candidate of Uddhav Thackeray faction for Andheri East bypolls, Rutuja Latke has promised that she will try to fulfil the promise made by her late husband Ramesh Latke.

Rutuja has retained her husband's seat after leading the Andheri East bypolls by 66,530 votes.
"This victory is of my husband and his development work in Andheri. I will go to the election centre now and later to Matoshree to seek blessings," Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke said while addressing the media in Mumbai on Sunday.
She said, "I thank everyone for supporting me. The turnout in the by-elections was low. This is the result of the sympathy and hard work of my husband. My husband made a promise. I will try to complete it."
Rutuja Latke later alleged BJP had no sympathy and said that they would not have filled out the form if they had any. (ANI)