Congress wins 1st MLC seat; retains RSS bastion in Nagpur
What's the story
Congress leader Abhijit Govindrao Wanjarri has won the Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Council for a second consecutive term. The lawyer and educationist first won the seat in 2020 as a Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate. His victory is significant, as Nagpur is the home city of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and is considered a stronghold of both the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Broader impact
Congress opens account in ongoing MLC polls
Wanjarri defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Sudhakar Kohale by a margin of 3,271 votes after a counting process that took over 40 hours to complete.
With this victory, the Congress has opened its account in the ongoing MLC polls across four states: Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
Overall, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (SP), won three out of five seats.
Meanwhile, the ruling Mahayuti coalition managed to win two seats.
Victory speech
BJP deployed all its might in Nagpur, says Wanjarri
Reacting to his victory, Wanjarri said that despite the BJP deploying its leaders and resources in Nagpur, voters supported the Congress.
"The BJP exerted all its might, all its leaders were present in Nagpur, yet the voters stood with us," he said on October 28.
He also credited the unity within the Congress and MVA for this outcome, adding that several organizations had supported his campaign and pointing to the backing of 48 organizations mentioned in his campaign material.
CM
Fadnavis deletes tweet predicting 'big fat 0' for Congress
After the results, CM Fadnavis deleted a tweet where he had predicted a "big fat zero" for the Congress in these elections.
The Maharashtra Congress quickly seized on this development to mock both PM Modi and Fadnavis.
In a post on X, they wrote, "By deleting the tweet, Fadnavis has once again preserved Savarkar's legacy!"
They further added that this was just the beginning and warned of more political surprises in 2029.
PM
PM's dig at Congress
While counting was underway, PM Modi had also taken a dig at the Congress.
"MLC elections in 28 seats across 4 big states - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Karnataka. Elections held using ballot papers. Guess how many seats Congress won?" he wrote on X with the Face with Monocle emoji.
The Congress, however, had faced setbacks in other states, including the four Legislative Council seats in Karnataka, where it is in power.