Rutuja Latke of Uddhav's Sena faction wins Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll; NOTA at 2nd place
Mumbai (PTI): Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), on Sunday won the bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat, bagging more than 66,000 votes, followed by the None Of The Above (NOTA) option.
The NOTA gives an option to electors not to vote in favour of any of the candidates in an election.
Latke got 66,530 votes out of the total 86,570 votes, while 12,806 votes were polled in favour of NOTA, an official said.
Latke was pitted against six independent candidates.
The November 3 byelection was necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA and Rutuja Latke's Ramesh Latke in May this year. It was, however, 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.
After the bypoll result was declared, Thackeray said Rutuja Latke's victory showed that people were supporting Shiv Sena. "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 after Rutuja Latke called on him at his residence 'Matoshree' following the victory.
Sena's Ramesh Latke had represented the Andheri (East) Assembly seat twice.
The Shiv Sena had won 56 seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. Ramesh Latke's death in May brought its tally down to 55.
In June, 40 Sena legislators led by Eknath Shinde revolted against the party leadership, resulting in the collapse of the MVA government.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, supported Rutuja Latke's candidature.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bangladesh's interim govt revokes ousted PM Sheikh Hasina's passport
Dhaka, Jan 7: Bangladesh's interim government on Tuesday said it has revoked the passport of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 96 others over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances and the July killings.
Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League's (AL) 16-year regime.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.
Addressing a press briefing here, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said, "The Passports Department cancelled passports of 22 people involved in enforced disappearances, while passports of 75 people, including Sheikh Hasina, were revoked due to their involvement in the July killings.”
He, however, did not reveal the names of the remaining individuals whose passports were cancelled, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
