Counting is on for the bypolls held in constituencies across eight States.
Counting of votes in as many as 10 constituencies that had bypolls began on Thursday. Initial trends showed a neck-and-neck race between the arch rivals Congress and BJP.
Latest updates:
BJP replaces Left as #2 in Kanthi-Dakshin in Bengal
Nearly at the end of the counting in Kanthi-Dakshin [South] by-election in Purba [East] Medinipur district in south Bengal, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is comfortably ahead of its nearest rival by a margin of about 40,000 votes.
But significantly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has replaced the Communists and the Congress in Kanthi Dakshin, once considered a bastion of Communist Party of India (CPI).
BJP leads in both Madhya Pradesh assembly constituencies
After two rounds of ballot counting at Ater in Bhind district, BJP candidate Arvind Singh Bhadoria was leading over his nearest Congress rival Hemant Katare by 637 votes, according to the EC website.
Likewise, BJP’s Shivnarayan Singh was ahead of his Congress rival Savitri Singh by a comfortable margin of 10,965 votes at Bandhavgarh after nine rounds of ballot count.
Bhoranj bypoll: BJP candidate Anil Dhiman wins by 8,290 votes
BJP candidate Dr. Anil Dhiman won the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh by 8,290 votes.
The BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman defeated his nearest Congress rival, Promila Devi by 8,290 votes. Dhiman polled 24,453 votes against 16,144 votes polled by Devi while Pawan Chandel, a BJP rebel who contested as an Independent, polled 4,630 votes.
263 voters opted for NOTA. The polling for by-election was held on April 9.
The seat fell vacant following the death of BJP stalwart and former minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman, who won the seat six times in a row since 1990 and now his son Dr Anil Dhiman has retained the seat.
With this, the strength of the BJP has increased to 28 in the 68-member House.
Dholpur bypoll: BJP candidate Shobha Rani leading by 12,427 votes
BJP candidate Shobha Rani Kushwaha is leading by 12,427 votes after five rounds of counting in the Dholpur Assembly bypoll in Rajasthan.
“In the four rounds of counting, Kushwaha got 24,667 votes while her nearest rival and Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma got 12,240 votes.
“As many as 37,621 EVM votes have been counted in four rounds and the next round is going on amid tight security arrangements,” according to the state election commission.
So far, NOTA votes are 201 and postal votes are 230.
BJP wins in Rajouri Garden
BJP and SAD candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa wins Rajouri Garden bypoll by over 14,500 votes. Congress finishes second, AAP a distant third.
