NAGPUR: Congress candidate and sitting MLC Abhijeet Wanjari defeated BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes to retain the Nagpur Division Graduates’ constituency seat, ending a contest that saw the lead change hands during more than 40 hours of counting.Wanjari secured 67,231 votes against Kohale’s 63,960, with the counting that began on Tuesday morning concluding in the early hours of Thursday.The result came after Kohale, a former MLA, had taken a lead of 4,294 votes over Wanjari after the second round of counting on Wednesday.Kohale had polled 60,924 first-preference votes, against Wanjari’s 56,630. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale received 24,249 votes.With no candidate securing the required quota on first-preference votes, the counting proceeded to second-preference votes. Wanjari eventually overtook Kohale in the elimination rounds, a senior poll official told news agency PTI.The contest was closely watched as Nagpur is the home turf of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, both of whom had campaigned extensively for Kohale.The Nagpur graduates’ seat had been represented for several terms by Gadkari, who served as an MLC before entering national politics.Wanjari had defeated BJP candidate Sandip Joshi in the previous election.Before the final result was declared, Kohale questioned the effectiveness of the voting process in graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies, while indicating that he would accept the outcome.“Going by the trends in the last few rounds, it appears that the result may tilt in favour of the Congress candidate. Whatever the result, I am ready to accept it.”The Maharashtra legislative council elections were held for five constituencies, with the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi winning two seats each. The results also exposed differences within the ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, which failed to secure a uniform victory across the contests.The BJP won one seat and its ally Shiv Sena another, while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP failed to win any. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) secured two seats, benefiting from disagreements among Mahayuti partners over seat-sharing.
