Big relief to Thackeray faction as Bombay HC orders 'resignation acceptance' for bypoll candidate

The order came as a huge relief to the Thackeray faction, which had accused the Eknath Shinde government of influencing the civic body to sabotage the candidate.

Friday being the last date for filing nomination, Rutuja Latke could not have met the deadline if her resignation was not accepted.

The civic body chief had insisted on taking his time, arguing that under the rules, he has a month to make his decision now.

Brihanmumbai Commissioner Iqbal Chahal, however, had denied any political pressure.

Following a plea by Latke, the High Court Thursday ordered the civic body to give its letter of acceptance by 11 am Friday.

The court rebuked the civic body chief Iqbal Chahal, questioning why the Municipal Commissioner was "not using his discretion and taking a decision".

"If an employee wants to resign and contest elections, what is the difficulty? The petitioner is a clerk... It is just an employer-employee dispute... This is not even a matter that should have come to court. The Commissioner should have done it by now," said the bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sharmila Deshmukh.

Rutuja Latke is the wife of Sena's sitting MLA Ramesh Latke, who died this year, making the by-polls necessary.

The Thackeray faction said she had initially resigned on Sept 2 but there was a glitch in the paperwork and she had to give a fresh one but the BMC had been evasive about accepting it.