MVA wins three of five Legislative Council seats, Mahayuti two; Congress's Wanjari takes Nagpur

Results have been declared for the closely fought elections to five seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The outcome became clear after a count that lasted a full 45 hours. The Maha Vikas Aghadi won three seats and the Mahayuti two. In the Nagpur graduates' constituency, Congress won at the last moment.

In the Nagpur division graduates' constituency, Congress's Abhijit Wanjari defeated the BJP's Sudhakar Kohle by 3,271 votes. Counting first and second preference votes together, Wanjari polled 67,231 votes and Kohle 63,960. Counting began at 8 am on October 27 at 84 tables at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur, Nagpur. Of the 1,65,906 votes cast, 15,032 were invalid and 1,50,874 were counted as valid. A quota of 75,438 votes was needed to win, but no candidate reached it. Votes therefore had to be transferred according to preferences, which took more than 41 hours. Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari presented the certificate to Wanjari.

In the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) division graduates' constituency, Dr Pratapsinh Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) won by 18,124 votes. He polled 85,876 votes, while the Mahayuti's Satish Chavan got 67,752. Voting in this constituency was held at 842 polling stations across eight districts, and 41 candidates were in the fray. Seventy tables were set up for the count. In all, 1,77,115 votes were valid and 16,540 invalid. The quota for victory was 88,558 votes, which no one completed on first preferences. Thirty-nine candidates were then eliminated and votes of later preferences were transferred. Returning officer and Divisional Commissioner G. Shrikant declared Patil the winner at 5.10 am on Thursday, October 29.

In the Pune teachers' constituency, the BJP's Kaustubh Gawde won. He polled 23,117 votes against 16,347 for Sachin Sanap, who was backed by the Shiv Sena. Gawde's lead was about 6,770 votes. Sitting MLC Jayant Asgaonkar and former MLC Dattatray Sawant also lost. In this count, 1,675 votes were invalid. Gawde thanked the teachers and promised to work to resolve their problems.

In the Pune graduates' constituency, the Maha Vikas Aghadi's Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav defeated the BJP's Smita Jadhav by 9,928 votes. Harshada polled 1,13,840 votes and Smita 1,03,912. The two were neck and neck at the start, but Harshada took the lead in later rounds and sealed the win. Referring to voting on ballot papers, she also criticised the ruling parties.

In the Amravati teachers' constituency, Kiran Sarnaik of the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena defeated Congress's Aditi Pohare. Sarnaik polled 16,663 votes and Pohare 8,636, and Sarnaik won by 8,027 votes. He had won as an independent in the 2020 election. This time he joined the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, got the Mahayuti ticket and won for the second time.

Overall, the Maha Vikas Aghadi won the Nagpur, Pune graduates' and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar seats. The Mahayuti won the Pune teachers' and Amravati teachers' seats.