The counting of votes for the Nandigram by-elections is underway by the Election Commission of India. As per early trends from ECI, Hasirani Rath, the candidate fielded by the BJP, is in the lead.
Nandigram, which is in West Bengal's East Midnapore, went to the polls on October 6 and saw a turnout of 80.89 per cent. The seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who won from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, retained the latter. Track LIVE updates on bypoll election results
As per data from the Election Commission, BJP's Hasirani Rath is in the lead with a total of 11,965 votes. Based on this number, the BJP candidate is ahead by a margin of over 9,500 votes from Congress's Milan Pradhan.
High security in Nandigram
As ECI counts the votes for the Nandigram bypolls, heavy security has been deployed at the counting centres.
The Nandigram bypoll is among the first electoral battles in West Bengal after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in May this year with a sweeping victory, ousting the 15-year-old Mamata Banerjee regime, and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) split into two factions.
{{/usCountry}}The Nandigram bypoll is among the first electoral battles in West Bengal after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in May this year with a sweeping victory, ousting the 15-year-old Mamata Banerjee regime, and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) split into two factions.
{{/usCountry}}West Bengal witnessed high political drama in the run-up to the by-polls in which Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate fielded by Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, withdrew her nomination hours after meeting West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Soon after Dey resigned, Banerjee announced that the Mamata-AITC led by her would support Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate in Nandigram.
Hours later, Pradhan was arrested by the police in the 2007 murder cases, but was granted bail by the Calcutta high court.
(With inputs from HT's Joydeep Thakur)