MUMBAI: Congress candidate Jitesh Raosaheb Antapurkar was leading over BJP's Subhash Pirajirao Sabne by 1624 votes after the first round of counting of votes in Maharashtra's Deglur (SC) Assembly bypoll, an official said on Tuesday.
Counting for the bypoll, necessitated by the death of Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar due to coronavirus, began at 8 am.
The constituency is in Nanded district, from where state public works department minister Ashok Chavan hails.
The BJP fielded Sabne, a former Shiv Sena MLA.
The bypoll witnessed 63.9 per cent polling, compared to 60.9 per cent recorded in 2019.
Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, the wife of former MP Mohan Delkar who had allegedly committed suicide, took a lead of over 4,000 votes in the first one hour of counting of votes for by-election to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.
The counting of votes commenced here at 8.30 am on Tuesday.
After the completion of three rounds, Kalaben Delkar was leading by over 4,800 votes. She has so far received 12,268 votes, her close rival, BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit, garnered 7,418 votes, while Congress' Mahesh Dhodi received 447 votes, an Election Commission official said.
Voting for the seat, which is part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, took place on October 30.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting MP Mohan Delkar, an independent.
Mohan Delkar, who had won the 2019 election by defeating the then sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel by a thin margin of 9,001 votes, allegedly hanged himself at a Mumbai hotel on February 22, 2021.
He had been a member of both the Congress and the BJP at different times of his political career.
He was elected seven times to the Lok Sabha from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 2019, he won the seat as an independent.