Sudhakar Kohle's name tops BJP talk for Nagpur graduates' constituency seat

The BJP has not yet announced its official candidate for the Nagpur division graduates' constituency seat in the Legislative Council. For now, the name of former MLA Sudhakar Kohle, the party's voter registration in-charge, is at the top. Unless there is a last-minute surprise, his candidature is being seen as certain.

The BJP is known for trying new experiments in every election, and several times it has benefited from them. But an experiment on this very seat backfired. The Jana Sangh and the BJP had won the seat continuously for 62 years, but the Congress snatched it in the 2020 election.

In that election, the BJP tried a change and gave the ticket to Sandip Joshi in place of sitting Council member Anil Sole. The Congress fielded Abhijit Wanjari, who won. The BJP's stronghold thus went to the Congress.

Observers say the graduates' constituency voter is educated and discerning, and wants a capable candidate rather than one from a particular caste.

The BJP is understood to be unwilling to take any risk this time, because it wants to win back the seat it lost. The party has made Kohle its voter registration in-charge for the seat. He won the South Nagpur Assembly seat in 2014. In 2019, the BJP denied a ticket to its sitting MLA Kohle to field Mohan Mate.

Kohle was then sent to head the party's Nagpur Rural district unit. In the 2024 election he again staked a claim to his old South Nagpur seat, but Mate was fielded again. According to party insiders, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis personally promised the upset Kohle at the time that he would be brought into the Legislative Council through the graduates' constituency seat. He was then made voter registration in-charge. Since then, his candidature on this seat has been considered settled.

It is claimed that Kohle has got about 1.75 lakh voters registered in the division. However, some in the party are now staking a claim to the candidature after his hard work. Anil Sole is also claiming it, while a few other names, including Sandip Joshi, are also being discussed.

The last date for filing nominations is October 6. Aspirants from both the Congress and the BJP are preparing a strong show of strength. The Congress state in-charge, Dr Sirivella Prasad, the state president and senior leaders are likely to attend. Kohle's supporters are confident that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, other ministers, MPs, MLAs and key office-bearers will join the nomination rally.

The number of voters this time is likely to be about 2.5 lakh. So far, registration of 2.33 lakh voters has been tallied. A large number of applications were submitted in the last three days and are being counted.

The OBC issue was prominent last time and its effect was visible in the election. This time, the BJP is preparing to field a candidate keeping social equations in mind. The 'OBC factor' is therefore thought less likely to be as effective as before.

For the past two months, there has been a buzz in the country around 'Gen Z', and Nagpur has been active in the youth protests. This is the first election in the state after the 'Gen Z' stance, so political circles are watching which way young voters go. Workers of the Youth Congress and the NSUI have become active. In view of the student agitation, the BJP has also activated workers of the Yuva Morcha, the Vidyarthi Aghadi and the ABVP.