December 4, 2020 9:02:39 am
Sandip Joshi. (Source: ANI)
The BJP received a major shock on Thursday when its official nominee for the Amravati graduate constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls lost to Congress. The results, announced late at night after the completion of five rounds, showed BJP’s Sandip Joshi trailing with 25,898 votes against Congress’s Abhijit Wanjari, who garnered 35,509 votes.
Joshi, a former mayor of Nagpur, is close to former CM and opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis. The Amravati graduate constituency has always been considered the stronghold of BJP.
What makes the result embarrassing for the BJP is that the region is the territory of the two top leaders, Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who had campaigned during the elections.
A provisional electoral turnout of 63.89% was recorded in the vote of the three congressional districts of graduates and two of teachers of the state legislative council that took place on December 1. The elections were necessary after the end of the mandate of the MLCs Chandrakant Patil (BJP), Satish Chavan (NCP) and Anil Sole (BJP).
Sole was replaced by Sandip Joshi for the Amravati Graduate constituency.
The BJP was consoled by the victory of Amrish Patel of Dhule-Nandurbar, where the MLC Patil had resigned from Congress to join the BJP before the 2019 elections.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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