BJP takes early lead on both seats in MP bypolls

Bhopal: The BJP today established an early lead over Congress in the bypolls to Ater and Bandhavgarh assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, as per latest trends available after initial rounds of counting of votes.

After two rounds of ballot counting at Ater in Bhind district, BJP candidate Arvind Singh Bhadoria was leading over his nearest Congress rival Hemant Katare by 637 votes, according to the EC website.

Likewise, BJP’s Shivnarayan Singh was ahead of his Congress rival Savitri Singh by a comfortable margin of 10,965 votes at Bandhavgarh after nine rounds of ballot count.

The by-election on Bandhavgarh seat in Umaria district was mandated as its MLA Gyan Singh got elected to the Lok Sabha in November last year.

In Ater, the bypoll was necessitated following the death of Leader of Opposition in MP Assembly, Satyadev Katare.

Congress has fielded his son Hemant from Ater in a bid to cash on the sympathy wave.

The by-elections for the two seats were held on April 9.