Congress's Abhijit Wanjarri has retained the Nagpur Graduates' seat in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, defeating the BJP's Sudhakar Kohale in the city that houses the RSS headquarters.
The result came after counting that stretched over more than a day. It hands Congress a win just as the BJP has mocked the party for drawing a blank in Legislative Council polls elsewhere.
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Polling took place on October 23 and counting began on October 27. Kohale led after first-preference counting, with 60,924 votes to Wanjarri's 56,630. Independent Nitesh Karale took 24,249, NDTV reported.
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Wanjarri overtook him as second-preference votes were transferred from eliminated candidates.
The seat is symbolically important for the BJP. It held the constituency for nearly six decades until Wanjarri won it in 2020.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's late father, Gangadharrao Fadnavis, once represented it. Nagpur is also the home city of both Gadkari and Fadnavis.
The timing sharpens the political message. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked on X how many of the 28 Legislative Council seats across Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka Congress had won, noting that the polls used ballot papers.
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BJP leaders called the tally "a big zero". Wanjarri's win breaks that run for Congress.
In Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi claimed three of the five seats, including Pune Graduates, won by NCP (SP)'s Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav.
The BJP and Shiv Sena won one each. State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said the party had beaten the BJP for the second consecutive time in the city of the RSS headquarters, Fadnavis and Gadkari.
Who Is Abhijeet Wanjarri?
Wanjarri is an advocate from a political and educational family in Nagpur. His late father, Govindrao Vanjari, was a two-time Congress MLA from South Nagpur.
He holds BA and law degrees from Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University and has served on its Senate and Management Council.
He began in student politics as NSUI's Maharashtra general secretary from 1998 to 2002. He later served as state Youth Congress secretary, Nagpur district Congress chief spokesperson and party election observer in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
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Wanjarri is secretary of Amar Seva Mandal, which runs engineering, pharmacy, law, management and degree colleges in Vidarbha. He also chairs the Govind Urban Credit Co-operative Society and runs the Govindrao Wanjarri Foundation.
His electoral record was mixed before 2020. He lost the 2005 South Nagpur bypoll and the 2014 East Nagpur assembly election. In 2020, he beat the BJP's Sandip Joshi by 18,910 votes.
Wanjarri called the latest win a victory for MVA unity and for the support of 48 social and employee organisations.
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