Congress renames Abhijit Wanjari for Nagpur graduates' seat; Kharge announces candidates

The Congress has finalised its candidate for the Nagpur division graduates' constituency seat. The party has renominated sitting Legislative Council member Abhijit Wanjari, who will contest from the same seat once again.

Party national president Mallikarjun Kharge announced the official list of candidates for the Nagpur, Amravati and Pune seats. Jayant Asgaonkar's name has been finalised for the Pune teachers' constituency seat, and Prof. Aditi Pohare's name for Amravati.

Wanjari's supporters celebrated as soon as his name was announced from Nagpur. The Congress had signalled well in advance that Wanjari would be the candidate. It remains to be seen whom the BJP fields against him. Going by the mood, a close contest is likely this time, as the BJP will make an all-out effort to win back the seat it lost.

The last election was held in 2020. The BJP then replaced its Legislative Council member Anil Sole with Sandip Joshi as its candidate. The Congress fielded Wanjari against him. There were 2,07,000 registered voters at the time, and 1,32,923 votes were cast.

The BJP had considered the seat safe, but had to give it up. Joshi got 42,792 votes while Wanjari of the Congress secured 61,701, defeating him by a margin of 18,910 votes.

From 1958 to 2020, a span of 62 years, the seat had been held only by the Jana Sangh and the BJP. In the 2020 election, Wanjari wrested it from the BJP and breached its stronghold.

Polling is now due on October 23. The BJP will try to recapture this stronghold at any cost, while the Congress will not want to lose the seat, whatever the challenge.