The first bypoll in Maharashtra since the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government assumed power has been called off, and the BJP has withdrawn its candidate. Following Raj Thackeray’s call for the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to withdraw its candidate, the state’s BJP president, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, made the statement on Monday.
The MNS leader also urged the party to support Rutuja Latke, the candidate for the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction. Rutuja is the wife of Ramesh Latke, an MLA, whose passing prompted the election.
Chandrashekhar Bawankule made the announcement that the party was withdrawing Murji Patel from the Andheri byelection in Nagpur. He explained that it was in keeping with Maharashtra’s political tradition of not running a candidate against the surviving family members of a deceased MLA or MP.