Congress's Abhijit Wanjari wins Nagpur graduates' seat, defeating BJP's Sudhakar Kohale

Results of the graduates' and teachers' constituency elections in the state are out. Of the 3 graduates' and 2 teachers' seats, the Maha Vikas Aghadi won three, while the Mahayuti led on two.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi also won in Nagpur, described as the stronghold of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Congress's Abhijit Wanjari defeated the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale here.

The count in the Nagpur graduates' constituency was among the most thrilling and dramatic in recent times. Anticipation had built across the constituency as soon as counting began. Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari led in the first round. In the second round, however, the picture changed and the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale built a substantial lead of about 4,000 votes. The lead held until Wednesday evening, so most people had begun to feel a BJP win was certain.

At night, counting of second-preference votes began on the ballot papers of Nitesh Karale, and the situation was completely reversed. Wanjari's lead grew rapidly and the mood among Congress workers turned celebratory.

Kohale could not believe the result. He said plainly, "Congress has started celebrating, but we have not conceded. The 36th elimination round is under way. Up to this round I am ahead by 3,000 votes. About nine thousand BJP votes were eliminated. That is why we fell behind. To those BJP voters who wrote '2' instead of '1' against my name in the order of preference, my appeal is that such voting is not good for democracy. We will not concede until the entire count is over."

In the two rounds of counting first-preference votes, 15,032 of the 1,65,906 votes were found invalid, while 1,50,874 were counted as valid. No candidate reached the required quota even in the rounds after the second-preference count. Abhijit Wanjari, who got the highest total of 67,231 votes across the first- and second-preference rounds, was therefore declared elected.