Mumbai, October 17: The stage is set for the Andheri East Assembly by-elections in Mumbai on November 3 with a total of seven candidates in the fray, after seven withdrew from the contest, Mumbai Collector and Electoral Officer Nidhi Choudhary said on Monday.

The main contender now is Rutuja Ramesh Latke of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party, after her potential chief rival, ruling ally Bharatiya Janata Party's nominee Murji K. Patel withdrew from the contest at the last minute. Andheri East By-Election 2022: Uddhav Thackeray's Sena Gets New Name and Symbol, Eknath Shinde Faction Asked To Submit Fresh Signs by Tomorrow.

The others left in the poll race whose elections papers were found valid include Aapki Apni Party-Peoples' Balavenkatesh V. Nadar, Right To Recall Party's Manoj S. Nayak besides four independents - Neena Khedekar, Rajesh Tripathi, Farhana Syed, and Milind Kamble. Andheri East By-Elections 2022: Bombay High Court Tells BMC To Accept Resignation of Rutuja Latke, Sena (UBT) Bypoll Candidate.

Among the other withdrawals were: Hindustan Janata Party's Rakesh Arora, and five independents - Nicholas Almeida, Saqib Z. Mallick, Chandrakant R. Mote, Pahelsingh D. Auji, and Chandan Chaturvedi.

In view of Monday's political developments leading to the withdrawal of the BJP nominee Patel, Latke is expected to have a smooth sail in the elections, necessitated by the demise of her husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke in May.

Choudhary appealed to the people to come out and exercise their franchise in large numbers on November 3 - which has been declared as a general holiday for the constituency going to polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2022 09:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).