Uddhav Thackeray says their party won Andheri East bypolls despite conspiracies

Mumbai: Soon after Rutuja Latke, the Shiv Sena candidate of Uddhav Thackeray faction won the Andheri East bypolls, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray said that the party won the bypoll despite conspiracies.
"Despite conspiracies against us we won the by-election. It is the beginning of our victory. Our name & symbol were frozen, it's foolish to speak about those due to whom our party's symbol and name were frozen," Thackeray. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Murji Patel who withdrew his candidature from the election said that the picture would have been different today if the party did not do so.
Talking to ANI, Latke said, "Best wishes to Rutuja Latke for the future. Keeping in mind the political culture of Maharashtra, BJP had decided to take the nomination among themselves. The picture would have been different today if it had not been done so."

Rutuja has retained the seat of her husband after leading the Andheri East bypolls by 66,530 votes.
"One lakh 20 thousand voters coming under Andheri East assembly constituency stayed away from voting. This shows that the people are with us and they are not happy with Shiv Sena and MVA. The picture for 2024 will be different," Murji Patel said.
Meanwhile, Rutuja Latke said that BJP had no sympathy and if they had any, they would not have filled the form.
"If BJP had any sympathy, they would not have filled the form earlier. Votes met by NOTA belong to BJP...A survey was conducted before the election and they knew that they were losing hence they withdrew the nomination of their candidate," Latke said after winning the election.
Patel further said, "The only thing I would like to say to Uddhav Thackeray is that what happened to Trupti Sawant should not happen to Rutuja Latke."

BJP had withdrawn its candidate from the Andheri East by-election on October 17.
The move was made in support of the Uddhav Thackeray faction's candidate Rutuja Latke, as it withdrew its candidate Murji Patel from the seat.
"The BJP coalition has decided to not contest Mumbai's Andheri East assembly by-election and our candidate Murji Patel will withdraw the nomination. It is a collective decision by both the central and the state leadership," the BJP Maharashtra President Chandrashekhar Bawankule had said.

The BJP leader had further said that the party wants Rutuja Latke, the candidate from Uddhav's Shiv Sena faction to win the elections.
"We are taking back our candidate as we want Latke Ji to win the elections. BJP will be contesting the seat in the 2024 elections," he had said.
Meanwhile, Rutuja Latke has promised that she will try to fulfill the promise made by her late husband Ramesh Latke.
"This victory is of my husband and the development works he did in Andheri. I will go to the election center 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 sympathy and hard work of my husband. My husband made a promise. I will try to complete it." (ANI)