19% voting till noon in Bandra (East) bypoll

Narayan Rane to battle it out with Shiv Sena's Trupti Sawant

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Voting for the Assembly bypolls to Bandra (East) in suburban Mumbai and Tasgaon Kavthe-Mahankal in Sangli district began this morning.

A voter turnout of 19% has been registered till 12 noon in Bandra (East) Assembly by-election in suburban Mumbai, while 16.7% has been registered in Tasgaon Kavthe-Mahankal constituency in Sangli district. 

Meanwhile, former Congress MP Nilesh Rane was detained for alleged election code violation following complaints that he was moving around with party workers campaigning for his father. 

The battle for Bandra (East) has become a prestige issue for Shiv Sena due to the challenge posed by the party renegade-turned-Congress leader Narayan Rane on the home turf of Uddhav Thackeray.

While Sena has fielded Trupti Sawant, wife of sitting party MLA Bala Sawant, whose death necessitated the bypoll, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has nominated Siraj Khan.

For Rane, who lost last year's Assembly elections from his home-turf of Sindhudurg district, the bypoll is a do-or-die battle to stay relevant in the state politics as the humiliating defeat has significantly eroded his standing in the party.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, Sawant had humbled BJP's Krishna Parkar, MNS's Shilpa Sarpotdar and Congress leader Sunil Bagdi to win the seat.

In Tasgaon-Kavthe Mahankal bypoll, Suman Patil of NCP, wife of party stalwart R R Patil whose death necessitated the bypoll, is all set to win as no other party has fielded any candidate against her as a mark of respect for the former deputy chief minister.

However, rumours are doing rounds that BJP is covertly helping Swapnil Patil, a youth BJP leader from Tasgaon, who is contesting as an independent.

Counting of votes will be done on April 15.