The counting of votes in three Assembly bypolls (two seats in Madhya Pradesh and one in Odisha) began on Wednesday morning. The bypolls are widely perceived as a barometer of public sentiment in both states, which are headed to full Assembly elections in the coming year.
In MP, the Congress had established a narrow lead in counting of votes in two bypolls in the Assembly constituencies of Kolaras and Mungaoli, while in Odisha, the ruling BJD had established a massive lead in Bijepur constituency.
Madhya Pradesh
After eight rounds of voting in Kolaras and Mungaoli, the Congress candidates are leading by over 2,000 votes in both constituencies.
In Kolaras constituency, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav is being trailed by Devendra Jain of the BJP. In Mungaoli, Brijendra Singh Yadav is the Congress candidate.
The postal ballots were counted first, an Election Commission official said.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the death of Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli in Ashoknagar district) and Ram Singh Yadav (Kolaras in Shivpuri district).
Odisha
The ruling BJD has marched ahead of the BJP, establishing a huge margin in the byelection for Bijepur Assembly seat in Odisha as per latest trends, poll officials said.
BJD nominee Rita Sahu is leading by a margin of 22,739 votes over her nearest BJP rival Ashok Panigrahi after 10 rounds of counting of votes, they said.
While Sahu polled 54,104 votes, Panigrahi got 31,365 votes at the end of 10 rounds. Congress nominee Pranaya Sahu has so far got 2,788 votes.
The bypoll for Bijepur Assembly seat was held on February 24.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA Subal Sahu in August 2017.