Congress wins Nagpur graduates' seat as Council poll results for five constituencies are declared

Results have been declared for the elections to five seats of the Legislative Council. The polls were held in the Pune graduates', Pune teachers', Marathwada graduates', Amravati teachers' and Nagpur graduates' constituencies. The elections were a matter of great prestige for both the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Mahayuti alliances. The contest in the Nagpur graduates' constituency was especially close.

In the Nagpur graduates' constituency, the main contest was between the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale and the Congress's Abhijit Wanjari. Counting began at 8 am on October 27 at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur, Nagpur. It continued until the early hours, and the result was announced at 6 am today. Wanjari, the Indian National Congress candidate, won. Counting first and second preference votes together, he polled 67,231 votes, while the Bharatiya Janata Party's Kohale got 63,960. Returning officer and Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari presented Wanjari with the certificate of victory.

In the 05-Aurangabad division graduates' constituency, Dr Pratapsingh Vedprakash Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) won by 18,124 votes. He polled 85,876 votes. Satish Bhanudasrao Chavan of the Nationalist Congress Party got 67,752 votes. Dr Patil received the most votes on the basis of preferences.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP's Kaustubh Gawade won, defeating Sachin Sanap of the Shiv Sena. Sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar and former MLC Dattatray Sawant were also defeated in this election.

In the Pune graduates' constituency, the BJP suffered a major setback. The BJP's candidate Smita Jadhav lost, and Harshada Jadhav Deshmukh won by a margin of 9,700 votes. Smita Jadhav and Harshada Jadhav were locked in a neck-and-neck fight from the first round, but Harshada Jadhav took the lead in the later stages and won.

In the Amravati teachers' constituency, Kiran Sarnaik of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena won. Sarnaik, the Mahayuti candidate and a sitting MLC, defeated the Congress's Aditi Pohare. His win was confirmed in the counting of second preference votes. This is his second victory; in the previous election in 2020 he had won as an independent.

The winners in all five seats are: Pune graduates, Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav (Nationalist Congress Party, Sharadchandra Pawar); Pune teachers, Kaustubh Gawade (BJP); Nagpur graduates, Abhijit Wanjari (Congress); Marathwada graduates, Dr Pratapsingh Patil (Nationalist Congress Party, Sharadchandra Pawar); Amravati teachers, Kiran Sarnaik (Shiv Sena, Shinde).