By PTI
BHOPAL: The BJP was leading in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat, as per early trends of vote counting underway on Tuesday for the bypolls held in the state.
Besides these two seats, by-elections for Jobat (reserved for ST) and Prithvipur Assembly seats in the state were also held on October 30.
The counting of votes began at 8 am on Tuesday amid tight security for the bypolls necessitated due to the death of sitting MLAs and an MP, an official said.
BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil was leading by 8,622 votes over his Congress rival Rajnarayan Singh Purni in the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat after the first round, the official said.
In the Raigaon Assembly seat (reserved for SC), BJP’s Pratima Bagri was ahead of Congress’ Kalpana Verma by 936 votes.
The trends from Prithvipur and Jobat Assembly seats were awaited.
As many as 48 candidates contested the bypolls.
The Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat were earlier held by the BJP, while Jobat and Prithvipur Assembly seats were with the Congress.