Kolkata: The ruling TMC surged ahead of its rivals in Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur Assembly segments, while the BJP was ahead in the Kaliaganj Assembly seat after the ninth round of counting of votes for the by-polls in West Bengal, EC officials said on Thursday.
Pradip Sarkar of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was leading over his nearest rival Prem Chandra Jha of the BJP by over 13,000 votes in the Kharagpur Sadar seat.
In the Kaliaganj Assembly segment, the saffron party's Kamal Chandra Sarkar was ahead of his nearest rival Tapan Deb Sinha of the TMC by 3,156 votes.
TMC's Bimalendu Singha Roy was leading over his nearest rival Jay Prakash Majumdar of the BJP by over 27,000 votes in the Karimpur Assembly seat.
Counting of votes began at 8 am on Thursday amid tight security in three Assembly seats of West Bengal where by-polls were held on November 25.
