India, Oct. 29 -- Congress candidate Abhijeet Wanjari was on Thursday declared the winner in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections from Nagpur after a keenly-watched vote counting exercise that stretched for more than 40 hours.

Wanjari defeated BJP's Sudhakar Kohale by 3,271 votes to retain the Nagpur Division Graduates' constituency seat, which has been a traditional stronghold of the saffron party.

The counting of votes began on Tuesday morning and concluded in the wee hours of Thursday.

Wanjari, a sitting MLC, secured 67,231 votes, while Kohale, a former MLA, got 63,960 votes.

It is a big setback for the BJP as it has lost in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari who h...