Congress's Abhijit Wanjari wins Nagpur graduates' constituency election by 3,271 votes

The final result of the Nagpur graduates' constituency election has been declared after a counting process that lasted about 45 hours and saw several swings. Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari was declared the winner, defeating Sudhakar Kohle of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Wanjari received a total of 67,231 first and second preference votes. Kohle got 63,960 votes, so Wanjari won by a margin of 3,271 votes. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale secured 25,909 votes.

A striking feature emerged from the start of the counting. Several graduate voters who had voted for Kohle had their ballots declared invalid, because they wrote the numeral 2 instead of 1 against his name on the ballot paper. About 9,000 votes were rejected as a result, which has been described as a major setback for the BJP.

With voters having written 2 instead of 1 against Kohle's name on such a scale, the lead he might otherwise have gained was reduced. The question has also been raised whether this was a deliberate act by some particular group of voters. Had these votes gone to Kohle, his lead would have grown. Since Wanjari's winning margin is 3,271 votes, the result could have been different had the BJP's 9,000 votes not been rejected.

After the defeat became certain, Kohle reacted with displeasure. He said the party's senior leaders would analyse the result. According to Kohle, the rejection of 9,000 BJP votes is why he fell behind and lost. He appealed to those BJP voters who wrote 2 instead of 1 against his name, saying that voting in this manner is not right from the standpoint of democracy.

The BJP had gone all out to win the Nagpur graduates' seat. The entire party organisation was reported to have worked hard on the campaign. In the final phase, senior leaders such as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari and Chandrashekhar Bawankule also took part. Losing despite this is seen as a major setback for the BJP.