Wanjari Holds Nagpur Seat, Giving Opposition Alliance Three Wins

After more than 40 hours of counting, Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari won Nagpur’s Legislative Council seat with 67,231 votes, 3,271 ahead of BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale. The result gave the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) three of Maharashtra’s five seats in the October 23 election. It was declared early Thursday, October 29. ^4,6

That result followed a tight count in a seat long seen as a BJP stronghold. Kohale led after the first two rounds of first-choice votes, with 60,924 to Wanjari’s 56,630; independent candidate Nitesh Karale had 24,249. No one reached the required vote total, so officials moved to rounds counting voters’ second choices. Wanjari finished ahead, keeping the seat he first won in 2020. Nagpur is the home city of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who campaigned for Kohale. ^4,5,13

Those three MVA seats give the result meaning beyond Nagpur. The win came in a city closely tied to the BJP and the RSS, and reversed early claims that Congress had won no seats in the wider elections. The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance took the other two Maharashtra seats. Congress leaders mocked Fadnavis after he deleted a post saying the party had won zero seats. Across 28 Legislative Council contests in four states, the NDA alliance won 16 seats and Congress won one. ^2,3,7

The deleted post also fueled a separate argument over how elections should be run. Wanjari called for an end to voting using electronic voting machines (EVMs), echoing protests led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi; the Maharashtra contests used ballot papers. Wanjari said the Election Commission would eventually have to decide on the demand. For now, the official result stands: Wanjari keeps Nagpur, and the MVA holds three of Maharashtra’s five seats. ^1,4