Congress Legislature Party Leader Vijay Wadettiwar and otherscongratulate Abhijit Wanjarri after his win in the MLC polls Thursday
But, more than 15,000 votes were declared invalid, including nearly 9,000 ballots reportedly marked with the number ‘2’ against Kohale but without preferences for other 37 candidates.
Kohale has said he would appeal against invalid votes. The biggest setback for BJP came in its stronghold of Nagpur. The outcome has put BJP’s candidate selection under scrutiny. Former MLC Anil Sole, a Gadkari confidante who was denied a ticket, entered the fray as an Independent. He agreed to stop campaigning only after Fadnavis visited his home to address the dispute. The extent to which the rebellion affected Kohale’s prospects remains unclear. The unusually high number has prompted questions about whether ballots reflected voter error or dissatisfaction over candidate selection.
The biggest embarrassment for BJP was in Nagpur graduates constituency, where Congress ’ Abhijit Wanjarri secured a second consecutive term, defeating party nominee Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes in a nail-biting finish that went beyond 41 hours of counting. A BJP leader said, “While in the teachers’ constituency, Sena supported a rebel candidate, in the graduates’ constituency, its workers openly campaigned against our candidate, Smita Jadhav, and we lost. Had Mahayuti contested unitedly, we would have won all five seats.
A day after counting, senior BJP leader and cabinet minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said senior alliance members would review the results. Corrective measures will be taken,” he said. Former MLA and Pune unit chief Ravindra Dhangekar said, “The results show BJP should stop taking its alliance partners for granted. Sattar criticised NCP for nominating Chavan and said the party should introspect. The results also reveal that educated voters are moving away from us, and we need to take corrective measures,” Sattar said. Party chief Sunetra Pawar said, “Winning and losing are part of every election, but every outcome is a lesson. ”
he also trounced his rival in the RSS citadel and home turf of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari , despite the senior leadership in the vanguard of the campaign and its mammoth organisational machinery in place While Wanjarri was the lone Congress warrior to win an MLC election across India. “We will track down who played spoilsport. Sena hit back at BJP. The verdict has come as a reality check for BJP. The contest in Aurangabad graduates’ constituency too turned into a battle between the two factions of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). However, Sunetra Pawar’s faction did not receive support from its ally, Shiv Sena, which has a strong presence in the Marathwada region. NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil defeated NCP’s Satish Chavan. “In previous elections, our party workers supported the Mahayuti candidate. However, this time, the candidate selection was wrong, so we did not campaign for him. With the defeat in the Aurangabad seat, NCP failed to open its account.
Following the results, senior Sena leader Abdul Sattar admitted on Thursday he backed Sharad Pawar’s candidate instead of his alliance partner’s nominee.