Khota sarkar left with egg on their faces: Team Uddhav on Andheri win

Mumbai, Nov 06: The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray candidate Rutuja Latke on Sunday won the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat by a huge margin.

Taking the opportunity, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took a dig at the Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde's Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and BJP government in Maharashtra.

"Congratulations Rutuja Latke ji! The Shiv Sena's Mashaal has registered a Vishaal victory in the Andheri East bypoll. So, the NOTA votes strategy that Khota+Khoka sarkar tried has failed & now left with egg on their faces," Chaturvedi tweeted.

The bypoll shows people are supporting Shiv Sena, party president Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday.

"This is just the beginning of a fight. The (party) symbol is important but people look for the character too. The bypoll results show people support us," Thackeray told reporters/

"This victory is a beginning of a fight. I appeal to Shiv Sainiks to fight unitedly for all future battles. Our party's name and symbol were frozen for this election but those who wanted this are nowhere near the electoral ring," Thackeray said in a veiled swipe at the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Attacking the BJP, which had withdrawn its candidate for the bypoll at the last moment, he said Shiv Sena's opponents backed out of the race sensing defeat.

To a question on the NOTA option in the bypoll, Thackeray said, "Had our opponents been in the poll fray, their candidate would have secured the same number of NOTA votes".

The November 3 byelection, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA and Rutuja Latke's Ramesh Latke in May this year, was a mere formality after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its candidate from the race.

This was the first electoral contest in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed in June following a revolt by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.
Shinde subsequently became chief minister in an alliance with the BJP.