Ghosi bypoll: SP candidate takes slender lead in initial round of counting

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh has taken a slender lead of 178 votes over BJP's Dara Singh Chauhan as counting got underway in the Ghosi Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the first round, Singh has garnered 3,381 votes, while Chauhan has got 3,203 votes so far.There will be 34 rounds of counting.

The counting of votes for the bypoll -- being seen as the first major electoral clash between the NDA and opposition bloc INDIA -- got underway at 8 am,   More than 50 per cent of the total electorate in the assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district cast their votes in the polling held on Tuesday.

The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Dara Singh Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 UP Assembly polls, from the Samajwadi Party in July. He returned to the BJP and was fielded by the party in the bypoll.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chauhan defeated BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Rajbhar by a margin of 22,216 votes.

In the bypoll, Chauhan is being supported by NDA partners Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, a former SP ally.

The SP candidate has received support from INDIA bloc constituents -- the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, RLD, AAP, CPI(ML)-Liberation and Suheldev Swabhiman Party.

The bypoll will have no bearing on the BJP government, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the 403-member state assembly. However, its outcome could be an indicator of what is in store for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for the INDIA bloc.

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 MPs to the 543-member Lok Sabha.

A total of 10 candidates were in the fray. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has not fielded any candidate in the bypoll.