JD(U) candidate leading in Rupauli bypoll in Bihar

Purnea: JD(U)'s Kaladhar Prasad Mandal was leading by 2,433 votes over his nearest rival, an independent candidate, in the by-election to the Rupauli Assembly seat in Bihar's Purnea district on Saturday, according to the election commission of India.

After the first round of counting, the JD(U) candidate secured 6,588 votes, while independent candidate Shankar Singh got 4,155 votes, according to the latest information uploaded on the Election Commission's website.

RJD's Bima Bharti is in the third position by securing 2,359 votes after the conclusion of the first round of counting.

The counting of votes commenced at 8 am.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who had won the seat for JD(U) several times but quit the party recently to contest the Lok Sabha election on an RJD ticket. Following her loss in the parliamentary election, she contested the bypoll as an RJD candidate.