Nagpur graduates' seat: Kohle leads after two rounds, no one reaches quota, second-preference count begins

The counting of votes in the Nagpur graduates' constituency election has been a closely fought contest since yesterday. The seat is the home ground of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and the whole state is watching it. According to the latest information on Wednesday morning, 1,50,874 votes have been found valid after two rounds of counting.

Under the rules, this means a quota of 75,438 votes is needed to win. But neither of the two main candidates has reached that figure. As a result, the elimination round has begun and votes carrying second-preference rankings are being counted.

In the first round, Congress's Abhijit Wanjari was ahead with 28,998 votes, against 28,071 for BJP's Sudhakar Kohle, a lead of 927 votes for Wanjari. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale got 14,708 votes in this round.

The picture reversed in the second round. Kohle got 32,883 votes and Wanjari 27,600, while Karale got 9,541. Kohle's lead in this round was 5,283 votes.

Taken together, Wanjari has 56,630 votes and Kohle 60,924. Karale is third with 24,249 votes. His showing in the first two rounds was remarkable. The deciding factor in this Nagpur contest may now be how many second-preference votes from Karale's tally go to the BJP and Congress candidates.

The entire BJP had gone into the contest united. In the final phase of the campaign, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nitin Gadkari and Chandrashekhar Bawankule all came to campaign. It was said that this had certainly influenced voters. BJP's Kohle had thought he would win in the very first round. But as the night wore on the picture kept changing, and it has now come to counting second-preference votes.