BJP's Sudhakar Kohale loses Nagpur graduates' seat to Congress's Abhijit Wanjari in close contest

Nagpur, October 28: The BJP's Sudhakar Kohale has lost the Nagpur divisional graduates' constituency election. Congress's Abhijit Wanjari won the seat in a very close contest. Following the result, questions have begun to be raised over invalid votes and election strategy.

The counting of second-preference votes in the share of Nitesh Karale, alias Karale Guruji, played a key role in turning the election. This reversed the contest in the final round.

It is being discussed that more than 3,000 votes were declared invalid. It is also being claimed that more than 15,000 votes were rejected for various reasons. These figures have not yet been officially confirmed, and the full details of the reasons for the invalid votes are yet to emerge.

According to one claim, more than 3,000 ballot papers had '2' written against Sudhakar Kohale's name as the second preference, but no candidate was given '1' as the first preference. If this is officially confirmed, the question will arise of how well voters had been told how to vote by order of preference. Appeals had been made repeatedly at public meetings and on social media. Even so, the claim that so many ballot papers were invalid has become a matter of serious discussion.

During the counting, Sudhakar Kohale had built a lead of around 5,000 votes. As soon as the counting of second-preference votes began in the final round, his lead started to shrink. At that point, around 14,000 votes linked to Nitesh Karale were reported to be yet to be counted. After Congress's Abhijit Wanjari received the second preference in these votes, the course of the contest changed and Wanjari won.

The Nagpur graduates' constituency has long been a strong bastion of the BJP. This time there was talk of discontent within the party over Sudhakar Kohale's candidature. Former MLA and Council member Anil Sole was unhappy, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also intervened. Even so, the BJP could not retain the seat.

Questions are now being asked whether the defeat was due to the arithmetic of second-preference votes, dissatisfaction over the choice of candidate, or a major lapse in the conduct of the election. The biggest question is what the truth is behind the claims of more than 3,000 invalid votes and more than 15,000 rejected votes, and, if these figures are confirmed, who will be responsible.

Answers to these questions can come only from the official counting records and explanations from election officials.