Congress's Abhijeet Wanjari beats BJP's Sudhakar Kohale in Nagpur graduates' constituency poll

The BJP has suffered a major setback in its own stronghold in the teachers' and graduates' constituency elections to the state legislature. In Nagpur, Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari defeated BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale. The win has opened new doors for the Congress in Nagpur.

The BJP had drawn up every kind of strategy, planned meticulously and campaigned vigorously to get Kohale elected. Even so, the party could not get its vote arithmetic right, and the result did not go in its favour.

The dominance of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP in Nagpur, the state's sub-capital, is well known. For the Nagpur graduates' constituency election, the BJP had mounted a big effort for Kohale. Senior state leaders also addressed large campaign meetings for him.

Notably, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and the Chief Minister's side had also put together a large team for Kohale. After the defeat, however, it is being said that the party's own committed votes were split.

It is also being speculated that the BJP's assumption that a certain set of votes was theirs, taking voters for granted and ignoring the real problems and difficulties of graduates, led to the party's defeat.

Discussion has also begun in Nagpur's political circles that while the BJP had brought senior state leaders, including a Union minister, into the campaign, overconfidence also sank the party workers who were working at the ground level.

In addition, RSS workers and the BJP's large machinery were at work, yet the party could not win. Excessive confidence of victory and ignoring the strength of rival candidates cost the BJP heavily.