Live Lok Sabha bypolls: BJP's Mriganka Singh trails in Kairana; NCP leads in Bhandara-Gondiya
Malfunctioning of EVMs was also reported in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Counting of votes in4 Lok Sabha bypoll seats began on Thursday morning. The bypolls were held on Monday in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and in a single seat in Nagaland.
After taking an early lead through postal ballots,BJP'sMriganka Singh is now trailing againstRLD'sTabassum Hasanby over 8,000 votes.
After leading in Bhandara-Gondiya, BJP is now trailing against NCP in Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondiya by 3,000 votes.
In Palghar, BJP's Gavit Rajendra Dhedya is leading by over 10,000 votes againstShiv Sena.
The high profile Kairana seat has all political pandits transfixed with BJP's Mriganka Singh, daughter of late BJP MP Hukum Singh pitted against Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Tabassum Hasan with the Opposition Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP providing support on the ground.
A victory for RLD would be seen as strengthing of the federal front after its victory in KarnatakaAssembly elections recently and in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats in Uttar Pradesh earlier.
The voter turnout in Kairana was 54 per cent amid complaints of Electronic Voting Machine(EVM) Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail(VVPAT) malfunction which led the Election Commission to order repoll in 73 booths.
Malfunctioning of EVMs was also reported in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. The BJP and NCP are locked in a bitter battle in the crucial Maharashtra seats.
The lone seat in Nagaland had reported 70 per cent polling with the People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) battling the NDPP and the BJP.