Bypolls: BJP ahead in four seats, TRS in Munugode after initial rounds of counting
New Delhi: The BJP has taken an early lead in four seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha and Bihar, while the ruling TRS was ahead of its rivals in Telangana's Munugode as counting of votes got underway on Sunday for the bypolls to seven assembly constituencies in six states.
The RJD has established a lead in Mokama constituency in Bihar, while Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), established a comfortable lead after the first round of counting for the byelection to Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai.
In the bypoll to Munugode Assembly constituency in Telanagana, the ruling TRS was ahead of its rivals after completion of the first round of counting of votes on Sunday
While the TRS secured 6,096 votes, its nearest rival BJP got 4,904 votes in the first round. The Congress garnered 1,877 votes, official sources said.
In Haryana's Adampur assembly, BJP candidate Bhavya Bishnoi is leading by a margin of 10,228 votes over his nearest rival and Congress candidate Jai Prakash after five rounds of counting.
According to trends, BJP's Bhavya has so far polled 28,669 votes while Congress's Prakash got 18,441 votes.
In Uttar Pradesh, BJP candidate Aman Giri has taken a comfortable lead of about 25,000 votes over his nearest rival as counting of votes progressed in the Gola Gokarannath assembly bypolls.
While Giri has got 73,371 votes so far, Samajwadi Party's Vinay Tiwari got 48,739 votes, officials said after the 18th round of counting.
According to the Election Commission trends for Dhamnagar bypolls in Odisha's Bhadrak district, BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj registered a lead over his BJD rival Abanti Das by 3,261 votes after the initial rounds of counting of votes.
Suraj secured 18,181 votes in the first four rounds of counting, while BJD candidate Abanti Das bagged 14,920.Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi got 557 votes.
In Bihar, the RJD has established a lead in Mokama constituency, while the BJP is ahead in Gopalganj, Election Commission trends revealed. In Mokama, Neelam Devi of the RJD is ahead of BJP's Sonam Devi by 12,152 votes. Kusum Devi of the BJP has taken a lead over Mohan Prasad Gupta of the RJD by 637 votes, EC trends showed.
After the first round of counting for the byelection to Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai, Latke had established a comfortable lead.She has polled 4,277 votes out of the 5,624 votes counted so far, an official said.
The bypolls in the seven seats were held on November three.
Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi and RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification necessitated the by-election in Bihar's Mokama, are among the prominent candidates in the fray.
Among the seven seats which witnessed a stiff contest between the BJP and the regional parties, the saffron party held three and the Congress two, while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each.
For the bypolls in Bihar, the main contest is between the BJP and the RJD, and the saffron party's main contenders in Haryana are the Congress, INLD and the AAP.
Main contestants TRS, SP and the BJD are taking on the BJP in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha respectively are taking on the saffron party.
The BJP is seeking to retain the Gola Gokarannath seat and Dhamnagar in the BJD-ruled Odisha, banking on sympathy votes as it has fielded the sons of sitting MLAs whose death necessitated the bypolls.
The Gola Gokarannath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. With the BSP and the Congress keeping away from the bypolls, there seems to be a direct fight between the BJP's Aman Giri and the SP candidate - former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.
The BJD has fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates in Dhamnagar. BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the by-election. The saffron party has fielded Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj.
The BJP and the ruling TRS had been campaigning aggressively in Munugode in Telangana, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket.
In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.
The Adampur seat has been held by the Bhajan Lal family since 1968, with the late ex-chief minister representing it on nine occasions, his wife Jasma Devi once, and Kuldeep on four occasions.
Bihar saw the first electoral test for the Nitish Kumar-led 'Mahagathbandhan' government, formed less than three months ago after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP.
The Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar were earlier held by the RJD and the BJP respectively.
The BJP is contesting from the Mokama constituency for the first time as the saffron party had, on previous occasions, left the seat to its allies. Both the BJP and the RJD have fielded the wives of local musclemen in the bypolls.
BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election.
Mokama is the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has appealed to voters to support him.
In Gopalganj, BJP fielded Kusum Devi, the wife of deceased party MLA Subhash Singh. The RJD fielded Mohan Gupta, while Indira Yadav, wife of Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, is contesting as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.
Shiv Sena's Latke is expected to comfortably win Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.
The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May.
