Congress's Abhijit Wanjari wins Nagpur graduates' constituency, BJP's Sudhakar Kohle second

Indian National Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari has won the Nagpur division Legislative Council graduates' constituency election. Counting first and second preference votes together, he secured a total of 67,231 votes. His closest rival, Sudhakar Kohle of the Bharatiya Janata Party, got 63,960 votes. Returning officer and Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidri handed Wanjari the certificate of victory.

Counting began at 8 am on Tuesday, October 27, on 84 tables at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur, Nagpur. It ran for more than 41 hours. Election observer Dr Harshdeep Kamble, returning officer and Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidri, the collectors of all districts in the division who serve as assistant returning officers, and the officers and staff deputed for counting were present.

In two rounds of first preference counting, no candidate reached the quota of 75,438 votes needed to win. A total of 1,65,906 votes were cast in these two rounds, of which 15,032 were invalid and 1,50,874 were counted as valid. Because the quota was not met, an elimination round of second preference votes was held as per the election procedure.

No candidate reached the quota in the second preference elimination round either. Abhijit Wanjari, who had the highest tally of 67,231 votes across the first and second preference rounds combined, was declared the winner.

The Election Commission of India announced the election schedule on September 22. The notification was issued on September 29. Polling took place on October 23, between 8 am and 4 pm. Counting began at 8 am on October 27 and was completed 41 hours later. The Commission has set October 31 as the deadline for completing the entire election process.