Wanjari, the sitting member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, secured 67,231 votes against 63,960 polled by Kohale, a former legislator. The result was declared early Thursday after the counting process, which began on Tuesday, extended into successive rounds of preferential voting.
The victory carries particular political significance because Nagpur is the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, both prominent BJP leaders who campaigned for Kohale. The city also houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological organisation associated with the BJP.
The outcome denied the BJP an opportunity to reclaim a constituency it had controlled for decades before Wanjari first won the seat in 2020. His re-election gives Congress a second consecutive victory in territory traditionally regarded as an important BJP organisational stronghold.
The contest witnessed a reversal during counting. Kohale had established a lead of 4,294 votes after the first-preference ballots were counted, receiving 60,924 votes against Wanjari’s 56,630. Independent candidate Nitesh Karale secured 24,249 first-preference votes, making the subsequent transfer of preferences crucial.
Neither principal candidate reached the required quota of 75,438 votes during the initial counting rounds. Election officials consequently proceeded with the elimination of lower-ranked candidates and the redistribution of their ballots according to voters’ subsequent preferences.
Wanjari overtook Kohale during these elimination rounds and finished with the higher tally. As neither candidate attained the prescribed quota even after the redistribution, Wanjari was declared elected on the basis of his final vote total.
Returning Officer and Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari issued the election certificate to Wanjari following completion of the counting process at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur.
The counting operation involved 84 tables and continued for more than 41 hours. Election observer Harshdeep Kamble, assistant returning officers and district election officials were associated with the exercise.
Election figures showed that 165,906 ballots were counted, of which 150,874 were considered valid and 15,032 were rejected. The substantial number of invalid ballots formed another notable feature of an election decided through the preferential voting system.
Wanjari’s victory also altered the overall balance of the five Legislative Council constituencies that went to the polls on October 23. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) secured three seats, while the ruling Mahayuti alliance won two.
The Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar won the graduates’ constituencies of Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Congress added Nagpur to the opposition alliance’s tally.
Within the ruling alliance, the BJP secured the Pune Teachers’ constituency through Kaustubh Gawade, while the Shiv Sena led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde won the Amravati Teachers’ constituency through Kiran Sarnaik.
The Nagpur result attracted particular attention because the BJP had invested considerable political effort in the contest. Fadnavis and Gadkari actively supported Kohale’s campaign, seeking to restore the party’s representation in a constituency with longstanding connections to its senior leadership.
Gadkari himself represented the Nagpur graduates’ constituency for 24 years, from 1990 until 2014. The BJP subsequently lost the seat to Wanjari in 2020, when he defeated its candidate Sandip Joshi.
Congress leaders highlighted Thursday’s result after earlier political exchanges over the party’s performance in the Council elections. The Maharashtra Congress challenged claims that the party had failed to secure a seat, pointing to the final Nagpur outcome.
The result nevertheless represented a successful defence of an existing Congress seat rather than a new constituency gain. Wanjari entered the election as the incumbent, while the BJP sought to reverse its defeat six years earlier.
The graduates’ constituency differs from an ordinary Assembly constituency because its electorate comprises registered graduate voters meeting the prescribed eligibility requirements. Such constituencies elect representatives to the Legislative Council rather than the directly elected Legislative Assembly.
The voting system also differs from the first-past-the-post method used in Assembly elections. Voters rank candidates by preference, allowing ballots to be transferred when candidates are eliminated during counting.
Polling for the Nagpur Division constituency took place on October 23, with voting scheduled between 8 am and 4 pm. The Election Commission had announced the election programme on September 22 and issued the formal notification on September 29. The electoral process was scheduled for completion by October 31.
