Mumbai: Congress candidate Abhijit Wanjari on Friday (December 4) defeated BJP's Sandip Joshi by a margin of 18,910 votes to win the Nagpur division graduates' constituency election of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Abhijit Wanjari's victory is a big setback to the BJP, as it had held the seat for the last 58 years. Union minister Nitin Gadkari had also represented it for several years in the past.


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Abhijit Wanjari defeated his nearest rival Joshi by securing 61,701 votes, while the latter bagged 42,791 votes. The counting for the votes had begun on Thursday and continued till Friday afternoon. Sandip Joshi is presently the Mayor of Nagpur city.


A total of 1,32,923 voters, out of more than two lakh registered ones, cast their votes for this seat, while the voting was held in 322 polling booths spread across Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, and Nagpur.


There were 19 candidates in the fray and the main contenders were the BJP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates. 


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Nagpur division graduates' constituency has so far been considered a stronghold of the BJP. Nagpur is the hometown of former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.


Abhijit Wanjari was a senate member of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University for several years, and his father late Govindrao Wanjari was a Congress MLA. 


Elated over the MLC poll outcome, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the results of biennial polls to the Legislative Council show that the political situation in Maharashtra has changed in Pune on Friday.


Senior NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told PTI that the victory of MVA candidates reflected the unity among its constituents and people's faith in the government. He further added that the BJP's monopoly in Nagpur and Pune was broken.


In a setback to the BJP, the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress `Maha Vikas Aghadi' (MVA) candidates have so far won three out of five constituencies three graduates' and two teachers'. Elections for these five seats along with one local body seat were held on December 1. The Dhule Nandurbar local bodies seat was won by BJP's Amrish Patel.


On the Maharashtra Legislative Council poll results, Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that his party failed to gauge the combined strength of the MVA allies. 


Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Fadnavis said, "We could not judge the combined strength of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in these polls. Now we know how big fight they can put up together. We will prepare better for the next polls."


Maha Vikas Aghadi wins 4 of 5 Council seats


The one-year-old Shiv Sena-NCP- Congress government in Maharashtra got a shot in the arm on Friday as the ruling coalition won four of the five Legislative Council seats from the Graduates' and Teachers' quota. The BJP, which lost power in the state after Assembly elections last year, also lost in Nagpur, a bastion of the saffron party.


The biennial elections to the upper house, held on December 1, were a sort of litmus test for the unlikely MVA of the Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP which came to power after the Sena parted ways with the BJP. The term of five sitting members had ended in July this year but the election was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


The NCP's Satish Chavan defeated the BJP's Shirish Boralkar to win the Aurangabad Division Graduates' constituency.


In Nagpur Division Graduates' seat, the Congress's Abhijit Wanjari trounced the BJP's Sandeep Joshi. In the past, this seat had been held by BJP stalwart and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.


In Pune Division Graduates' seat, the NCP's Arun Lad defeated Sangram Deshmukh of the BJP. In Pune Division Teachers' constituency, Jayant Asgaonkar of the Congress trounced sitting MLC and Independent Dattatraya Sawant.


In Amravati Division Teachers' constituency, Kiran Sarnaik (Independent) defeated sitting MLC and independent Shrikant Deshpande who contested onthe Shiv Sena ticket.


The Maharashtra Legislative Council has total 78 seats, of which 12 are filled from the Governor's quota and are currently vacant. The MVA has submitted a list of 12 names to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.


In the upper house, the BJP at present has 22 members, Shiv Sena 14, NCP nine, Congress eight, RSP, PWP, and Lok Bharati party one each, and four are independent legislators. There were 18 vacancies 12 from the governor's quota, five from teachers' and graduates' quota, and one from local bodies. 


The only solace for the BJP was that its candidate Amrish Patel won the by-election to Dhule Nandurbar Local Bodies constituency. Patel had resigned after quitting the Congress and joining the BJP, necessitating the by-election.


(With Agency Inputs)