Uttarakhand: BJP forges ahead of Congress in Bageshwar bypoll

Dehradun: The BJP was ahead of the Congress in the Bageshwar assembly bypoll, with its candidate Parvati Das leading by 1,542 votes as counting progressed on Thursday.

At the end of the seventh round of counting, Das had polled 18,299 votes while the Congress' Basant Kumar had garnered 16,757 votes, Bageshwar District Magistrate Anuradha Pal said.

The BJP moved ahead of the Congress in the third round and has maintained the lead consistently so far.

The seat was held since 2007 by the BJP's Chandan Ram Das whose death in April this year necessitated a bypoll to the seat.