Maha: 32 per cent voting in bypoll to Andheri (East) Assembly seat; counting on Nov 6

A low voter turnout of 31.74 per cent was recorded on Thursday in bypoll to the Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai and polling went off peacefully, election officials said.

Voting for the by-election, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May, was held at 256 booths between 7 am and 6 pm.

Returning officer Prashant Patil told reporters that the voting took place smoothly.

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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Late MLA Ramesh Latke's wife, Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), is expected to win comfortably after the BJP withdrew its nominee from the by-election.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, have supported Latke's candidature.

There are 2,71,502 registered voters in the constituency located in suburban Mumbai.

There were a total of seven candidates in the fray and barring Latke, all were independents. Counting of votes will be held on November 6.