THE BJP’s Murji Patel and the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party’s Rutuja Latke on Friday filed nomination papers for the November 3 Andheri East Assembly byelection in the city.

It will be the first Assembly by-election after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Government in Maharashtra in June, making it a litmus test of his faction’s hold over the Sena’s votebank in Mumbai.

Both the BJP and Thackeray-led Sena staged shows of strength as their respective candidates filed nomination papers. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Rutuja Latke’s husband and incumbent Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke.

Friday was the last day of filing nominations. A victory for the Uddhav Thackeray-led party would mean support for him among the Sena’s voters is intact and also that the votes of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, Thackeray’s allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, are transferable. A defeat, on the other hand, would be a further setback for Thackeray after 40 MLAs led by Eknath Shinde -- now chief minister -- and 12 party MPs deserted him in June.

Rutuja Latke, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) employee, had approached the Bombay High Court after the civic body refused to accept her resignation. She could not have filed her nomination until the resignation was accepted.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday ordered the BMC to accept Latke’s resignation. On Friday, the BMC accepted the resignation, paving the way for her to file her nomination papers.

Besides the NCP and Congress, even the Communist Party of India has pledged support to Latke. Senior leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi took out a march before she filed nomination papers. Aaditya Thackeray said he was 100 per cent confident that Latke will get the votes of MVA constituents. There was pressure on the BMC not to accept her resignation, he alleged. “There is anger among people about the way a woman (Latke) was troubled. Be it the BMC or State Government, the attempt was to ensure that she doesn’t contest,” he said.