Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari was declared the winner of the Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Thursday, retaining a seat that has traditionally been a BJP stronghold and taking the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's tally to three of the five Council seats that went to the polls on October 23.
Wanjari, a sitting MLC, polled 67,231 votes against BJP candidate and former MLA Sudhakar Kohale's 63,960 — a margin of 3,271. Counting began on Tuesday morning and ended in the early hours of Thursday, running for more than 40 hours. Union minister Nitin Gadkari had campaigned extensively for Kohale.
After the second round of counting of first-preference votes, Kohale had led with 60,924 votes to Wanjari's 56,630; independent candidate Nitesh Karale polled 24,249, and the contest turned on the elimination rounds.
The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won the other two seats, the BJP and the Shiv Sena taking one each. The five Council seats in Maharashtra were part of a larger round of 28 Legislative Council elections across four states held on ballot paper on October 23.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)