CHANDIGARH: INLD secretary general Abhay Singh Chautala's lead thinned over his nearest rival Gobind Kanda of the BJP in the Ellenabad assembly constituency in Haryana, according to latest trends for bypolls.
Counting of votes for the October 30 bypoll to the seat is in progress.
While Chautala maintained a consistent lead during the first seven rounds of counting, the margin dropped from 8,180 votes to 2,985 in the subsequent rounds.
There are 16 rounds of counting of votes.
The bypoll was necessitated after Chautala in January resigned as the MLA from the seat in protest against three central farm laws and to stand in solidarity with the farmers who are protesting against these legislations since the past one year.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate is leading over Gobind Kanda by a margin of 2,985 votes, according to trends available at 1 pm.
While BJP-JJP combine candidate Gobind Kanda is giving a fight to Chautala, opposition Congress' candidate Pawan Beniwal is trailing at third spot.
Out of the votes counted so far, Chautala has secured 40,633, Kanda 37,648 and Beniwal has got 14,951 votes.
While there are 19 candidates in the fray, most of whom are Independents, the main contest is between Chautala, Beniwal and JJP-backed BJP candidate Gobind Kanda.
Over 81 per cent of polling was recorded for the bypoll.
Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and legislator Gopal Kanda, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month.
Gopal Kanda, the MLA from Sirsa, has extended support to the BJP-JJP government.
Beniwal, who had unsuccessfully contested the previous assembly polls against Chautala, recently switched over from the BJP to the Congress.
Abhay Chautala, the younger son of INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, had won the Rori assembly bypoll in Sirsa district in 2000.
Ellenabad, a predominantly rural constituency, has been a traditional stronghold for the Chautala clan.
Abhay Chautala won the 2010 bypoll from Ellenabad, when Om Prakash Chautala vacated the seat to retain the Uchana seat in Jind district -- the other constituency from which he had contested the election in 2009 and won.
Abhay Chautala retained the Ellenabad seat in 2014 too.
He again won from Ellenabad in the 2019 assembly polls, when he was the lone INLD MLA to enter the House.
The win in the bypoll was crucial for the INLD otherwise the party would have had no MLA to represent in the state assembly.