Murji Patel, a former corporator, who recently jumped parties from BJP to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, unsuccessfully contested against Ramesh Latke in 2019 as an Independent candidate. He was nominated by the BJP in the 2022 bypoll as well, but the saffron party later withdrew his candidature, paving the way for Rutuja Latke’s victory.
Earlier this year, a case was registered against Murji Patel for allegedly submitting fake documents to the poll body while contesting the 2017 Mumbai civic polls. Patel was accused of using fake documents to obtain a caste certificate.
During the 2019 Assembly election in Maharashtra, the BJP emerged as the largest party, winning 105 of the 288 seats. The then undivided Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats, while Congress and NCP received 44 and 54. Despite a clear majority, the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance fell apart over the chief minister’s post, resulting in the formation of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
However, the MVA government collapsed after the Eknath Shinde-led camp rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in June 2022, splitting the party. A similar split was witnessed in NCP in July last year as Ajit Pawar parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the ruling Mahayuti.
In 2024, The Mahayuti — comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — is pitted against MVA, featuring Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP.
Andheri East Assembly election: Polling date
Polling for the 2024 Assembly election in Maharashtra is scheduled to take place on November 20, covering all 288 seats in the state, including Andheri East, in a single phase. The counting of votes will be done on November 23.
Andheri East has around 2.84 lakh voters in total.
Andheri East Assembly election: Candidates’ list
In 2024, a total of 12 candidates have filed nominations from the Andheri East seat.
| Candidate Names | Party |
| Rutuja Latke | Shiv Sena (UBT) |
| Murji Patel | Shiv Sena |
| Kundan Waghmare | Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) |
| Kausar Syed | Rashtriya Ulama Council |
| Advocate Pradeep Sonawane | Rashtriya Swarajya Sena |
| Prema Flavia | Swabhimani Paksha |
| Bala Nadar | Aapki Apni Party (Peoples) |
| Manish Raut | Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi |
| Manoj Nayak | Right to Recall Party |
| Advocate Sanjeevkumar Kalkori | Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi |
| Pahal Singh | Independent |
| Farhana Sayed | Independent |
2019 result
During the 2019 Assembly election in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena’s Ramesh Latke defeated then Independent candidate Murji Patel (Kaka) by 16,965 votes.
| Candidate Names | Party | Votes |
| Ramesh Latke | Shiv Sena | 62,773 (42.67%) |
| Murji Patel | Independent | 45,808 (31.14%) |
| NOTA | – | 4,311 (2.93%) |
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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
