Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari has retained the Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, defeating BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes. The victory marks a setback for the BJP in the home turf of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, both of whom had campaigned extensively for Kohale.
Wanjari, the sitting MLC, secured 67,231 votes, while former MLA Kohale received 63,960 votes. The counting process began on Tuesday morning and continued for more than 40 hours before the final result was declared in the early hours of Thursday.
Abhijeet Wanjari Wins After Intense Counting
The contest remained closely fought, with Kohale initially taking the lead. After the second round of counting on Wednesday, the BJP candidate was ahead of Wanjari by 4,294 votes.
During the first-preference vote count, Kohale secured 60,924 votes against Wanjari's 56,630. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale received 24,249 votes.
However, as no candidate secured the required quota of votes, the counting proceeded to the second-preference votes under the preferential voting system. Wanjari eventually overtook Kohale during the elimination rounds and secured the seat.
BJP Faces Setback In Nagpur
The result is politically significant for the BJP, as Nagpur is the home turf of Fadnavis and Gadkari. Gadkari had represented the Nagpur graduates' constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Council for several terms before entering national politics.
Wanjari had also defeated BJP candidate Sandip Joshi in the previous election, making this another setback for the BJP in the constituency.
Following the results, Congress leaders criticised the BJP leadership over earlier remarks about the party's performance in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections. Maharashtra Congress also shared a screenshot of a deleted social media post by Fadnavis in which he had described the Congress's performance as a "big fat zero".
The state Congress unit used the development to target the BJP, claiming that the party had spoken too soon before all the results were declared.
MVA Wins Three Of Five MLC Seats
The Congress victory in Nagpur contributed to the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) winning three of the five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats that went to polls on October 23. The ruling Mahayuti alliance secured the remaining two seats, with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena winning one each.
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) won the Pune Graduates' and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Graduates' constituencies. Meanwhile, BJP candidate Kaustubh Gawade won the Pune Teachers' constituency, while Shiv Sena candidate Kiran Sarnaik emerged victorious in the Amravati Teachers' constituency.
The results also dealt a setback to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which failed to win any of the five seats. Senior NCP leader Praful Patel called for a review of the party's priorities and organisational structure following the outcome.
