Problems Galore for Uddhav Thackeray, Uncertainty over its Candidate for Andheri East By-Poll
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 12: After the setback the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena suffered in the Supreme Court and then in the Election Commission of India, the party is facing yet another problem, uncertainty over its candidate for the Andheri (East) state Assembly by-elections.
With just two days to go for the closure of the filling of nominations for the by-elections on Friday, Thackeray faction is in doubt if its nominee Rutuja Latke will be able to file her papers in time. Ms Latke is an administrative officer in the ‘K’ ward of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and a government employee cannot contest an election till relieved from the post.
The by-election was necessitated due to the sudden death of the Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke and the Thackeray faction decided to nominate Rutuja Latke, the wife of the deceased MLA, to contest the seat her husband was holding.
Rutuja submitted her resignation from the BMC earlier this month to contest the by-elections and also deposited her one month’s salary of Rs 67,790 to the treasury in lieu of one month’s notice period to help expedite the process of acceptance of her resignation. But the BMC is still playing truant and is holding up a decision on accepting her resignation and relieving her from the office.
With just a day to go for filling the papers, hectic activities were on from the Thackeray camp to get their candidate cleared of the incumbency. The Team Uddhav has alleged that the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP government was deliberately dragging the matter of accepting Ms. Latke’s resignation so as to make her ineligible to contest.
“They are deliberately delaying the process to make her ineligible to contest in the election. It is being done at the behest of that (Shinde) group,” a senior politician in Uddhav camp alleged. Ms. Latke’s one month notice period is yet to be completed and the request to condone the same is still pending with BMC.
“We are waiting for them to approve her resignation. The delay in the process clearly indicates that they (BMC officials) are under pressure not to accept it,” Uddhav loyalist and MP Arvind Sawant said. However, when contacted BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal said “its work in progress as per rules.” The Uddhav team is likely to meet Mr. Chahal to discuss the same.
Rutuja on Wednesday moved the Bombay high court with a plea to issue a direction to the BMC to accept her resignation or to immediately issue a letter of acceptance or an appropriate letter evidencing her resignation. In the interim, she sought that the court declare that the petitioner has duly resigned from the service of the respondent BMC. Pending hearing of the plea, Rutuja also sought that she be allowed to fill her nomination form for contesting the Assembly bypoll.
The plea filed through senior advocate Vishwajeet Sawant said the conduct of BMC was “illegal and malafide” and its delay in accepting her resignation is deliberate to prevent her from contesting the bypoll and the BMC was acting in a “discriminatory” manner. The High Court has fixed the hearing on her plea on Thursday.
Thackeray camp suffered the first setback in the Supreme Court when it refused to stay the proceedings before the Election Commission of India for taking a decision on the name and symbol of the Shiv Sena to either of the Thackeray or the Eknath Shinde factions. Later the ECI also dealt a lethal blow to the faction which was hoping to be recognised as the original Shiv Sena. The ECI decided to freeze the name Shiv Sena and its election symbol “bow and arrow” asking both the factions to select a new name and symbol to contest the Andheri East by-elections.
While the decision came as a serious blow to the Thackeray faction, it did not mattered much to the Shinde faction at least for now as it is not contesting the Andheri by-election and is only supporting the BJP candidate in the fray against the nominee of the Thackeray faction.
