Four days left for graduate constituency voter registration

Nagpur: With only four days left for registration of voters for the Nagpur division graduate constituency election, both BJP and Congress have stepped up their activities. A member of legislative council (MLC) is elected from this constituency. Anil Sole of BJP is the incumbent MLC.

The registration of voters for this constituency started on September 30 and will continue till November 6.

Graduates residing in Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts can register as voters. The person can be a graduate from any constituency, but will have to have an aadhar card as proof of residence. This time around, photographs will also be required. The divisional commissioner is the returning officer for this election to be held in June 2020.

Two years ago, the State Election Commission (SEC) had issued an order asking all existing graduate voters to register themselves afresh. This has increased the workload of the BJP and Congress workers. Moreover, the registration period was during assembly elections when they were busy with the polls. Registration of voters has increased after voting for assembly elections. Around 2.75 lakh voters have been registered so far.

The voting in these elections takes place through ballot paper. It is the preferential type. You can vote for more than one person, but the preference will be different. Second preference votes are counted if the leading candidate does not meet the quota of first preference votes.

This constituency has been the domain of BJP since many years. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ father Gangadhar used to get elected from this constituency. After his death, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari became the MLC. Congress did not field a candidate in many elections. It was after many years that Congress’ Baban Taywade contested against Gadkari but lost. He also lost to Sole in the last election.

Fadnavis’ close aide Sandip Joshi is vying for the BJP ticket from this constituency. As his constituency is Nagpur South-West, Fadnavis’ seat, he has little chance of becoming an MLA. City BJP president Pravin Datke, who was denied a ticket this time, is also another contender. Congress may not repeat Taywade, who lost two times in succession. Abhijit Wanjari, who did not get the ticket from Nagpur East in the assembly polls, is eyeing the ticket among others.