Close fight in Nagpur graduates' seat count as Wanjari and Kohle trade leads

Counting of votes for the Nagpur division graduates' constituency seat of the Nagpur Legislative Council saw a close contest between Abhijit Wanjari of the Congress-Maha Vikas Aghadi and Sudhakar Kohle, the BJP-Mahayuti candidate. The contest has raised the unease of leaders on both sides.

Counting began at 8 am. Ballot papers were first taken out of the ballot boxes and sorted into bundles of 25. A total of 1,65,672 votes were polled, and 238 postal ballots were received. After the bundling, the actual counting began at around 2 pm, with 84,000 votes taken up at 84 tables, 1,000 per table.

Postal ballots were counted first. Of the 238 voters who used postal ballots, 34 were declared invalid. Of the remaining 204 valid votes, Wanjari got 101, Kohle 86 and others 17. Wanjari led in the postal ballots.

There were 788 ballot boxes across 445 polling stations, yielding 1,65,705 ballot papers. With the 204 valid postal ballots added, a total of 1,65,909 votes were to be counted.

The first round, covering 84,003 votes, ended at around 8 pm. The Congress had built a lead of 927 votes in it. Wanjari got 28,998 votes and Kohle 28,071. Nitesh Karale of the NCP, a rebel against the Maha Vikas Aghadi who is contesting as an independent, got 14,708 votes.

No official announcement was being made by the administration during the count. At around 5 pm, a report went viral on social media that Kohle was ahead by about 6,000 votes. About an hour and a half later, reports began to emerge that Wanjari had moved ahead by about 7,000 votes. It was learnt that Wanjari was leading on about 50 to 55 tables. By then, reports that Karale had got about 10,000 votes had also begun to go viral.

Counting of the remaining 81,909 votes began at around 9.30 pm and continued until early Wednesday. It was said that the BJP's Kohle did considerably well in the second round, and he was reported to be ahead on most tables. No official announcement was made even after that, and the final result is expected to become clear only by Wednesday morning.

Karale was the most talked-about figure in the election. When the first-round results came in, the votes he got upset the calculations of political observers. BJP leaders had fielded this rebel of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction with full preparation, to make inroads into the alliance's votes. The BJP had hoped he would cut into the votes of the Congress and the alliance's ideological base and make the BJP's path easier.

Karale claimed that eight more ballot papers than expected had come out of one ballot box, raised an objection and expressed displeasure with the Election Commission. He demanded that the fairness and security of elections held on the basis of a minimum number of ballot papers be ensured.

Former MLA Anil Sole, who had filed his nomination in rebellion against the BJP, did not withdraw it on the last day for withdrawal, so his name remained on the ballot paper. However, at the appeal of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he had announced that he was stepping aside and would work in support of the official candidate Kohle. He got 99 votes in the first-round count.

Around midnight, the atmosphere at the counting centre turned tense when Congress and BJP workers came face to face. Young workers of both parties began shouting slogans against each other. The sloganeering grew so intense that a scuffle seemed imminent, when police moved the youths of both sides away from each other.

Eyewitnesses said the trouble began when someone made abusive remarks about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In response, Congress workers raised slogans of "vote chori". BJP workers kept abusing Rahul Gandhi, while young Congress workers kept shouting "Vote chor, gaddi chhod". Senior leaders of both parties were not present, so there was no one to bring the situation under control.

In the morning, some independent candidates staged a sit-in at the counting venue, objecting to the process, and created a commotion.