Congress’s Abhijit Vanjari wins the Nagpur Graduates’ Constituency with 67,231 votes, defeating BJP’s Sudhakar Kohale after 41 hours of counting.
NAGPUR, October 29: Congress candidate Abhijit Vanjari has won the Nagpur Divisional Graduates’ Constituency election after more than 41 hours of counting. Election Returning Officer and Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari handed over the victory certificate to Vanjari.
Vanjari secured 67,231 votes, defeating BJP candidate Sudhakar Kohale, who received 63,960 votes.
41-Hour Counting Marathon
Vote counting began at 8 am on October 27 at the Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur, with counting conducted across 84 tables. The process continued for more than 41 hours before the final result was declared.
Election observer Dr Harshdeep Kamble, assistant returning officers from the districts concerned and district collectors were present during the counting process.
No Candidate Reached the Required Quota
The election was decided through preferential voting after no candidate secured the required quota of 75,438 votes in the first-preference counting rounds.
Of the 1,65,906 first-preference votes counted, 15,032 were declared invalid, leaving 1,50,874 valid votes.
As no candidate reached the required quota even after the subsequent second-preference counting round, the final decision was made by comparing the combined first- and second-preference votes. Vanjari emerged with the highest total and was declared elected.
Final Vote Count
- Abhijit Vanjari (Congress): 67,231 votes
- Sudhakar Kohale (BJP): 63,960 votes
Election Schedule
The Election Commission of India announced the election programme on September 22. The notification was issued on September 29, and polling took place on October 23 from 8 am to 4 pm.
Counting began on October 27 and concluded after more than 41 hours. The commission had scheduled completion of the entire election process by October 31.
