Trinamool candidate ahead in Howrah Lok Sabha bypoll

Trinamool Congress candidate Prasun Banerjee was leading by 25,029 votes his nearest Communist Party of India-Marxist rival Wednesday as authorities began counting ballots in the June 2 bypoll from the Howrah Lok Sabha constituency.

Prasun Banerjee is also a former international footballer.

With 59 rounds of the intended 122 rounds of counting over, Banerjee has got 2,25,746 votes, while Sridip Bhattacharya of the opposition Left Front, spearheaded by the CPI-M, obtained 2,00,717 votes.

The Trinamool nominee was in the pole position in six assembly segments - Shibpur, Bally, Panchla, Howrah Central, Howrah North and Howrah South, while the CPI-M was in the lead in Sankrail.

Sanatan Mukhopadhyay of the Congress was at the third spot, bagging around only 24,000 votes.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Trinamool Congress MP Ambica Banerjee April 25. He had polled 37,392 votes more than his CPI-M rival in 2009.