Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil has taken a decisive lead of 45,647 votes over his nearest rival from Congress in Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh as per the trends of counting of votes for the bypoll available so far on Tuesday.
In three Assembly seats, where votes are also being counted, BJP candidates have expanded their lead over their Congress rivals in Prithvipur and Jobat (reserved for ST) constituencies. Congress is leading in the Raigaon (reserved for SC) segment where BJP is trailing.
Patil has taken a lead of 45,647 votes over his nearest Congress rival Rajnarayan Singh Purni in the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency, the stronghold of BJP. The LS seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan.
In the Raigaon Assembly seat (reserved for SC) in the Satna district, Congress candidate Kalpana Verma was leading by 7,645 votes over her BJP rival Pratima Bagri.
In the Prithvipur Assembly seat in the Niwari district, BJP's Shishupal Singh Yadav is ahead of his Congress challenger Nitendra Singh Rathore by 4,904 votes. In the Jobat assembly constituency in the Alirajpur district, BJP's Sulochana Rawat has expanded her lead over Congress' Mahesh Patel by 10,546 votes, as per the trends.
A total of 48 candidates were in the fray for the bypolls held on October 30 to four seats, necessitated due to the death of sitting MLAs and an MP.
Counting of votes began at 8 AM on Tuesday amid tight security.
Of the four seats for which byelections were held on Saturday, the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat were earlier held by the BJP, while Jobat and Prithvipur segments were with Congress.
