Bihar bypolls: RJD leading on 2 seats, BJP in one

The RJD established leads in Araria Lok Sabha seat and Jehanabad Assembly constituency while the BJP was leading in Bhabhua Assembly seat in bypolls in Bihar.

According to latest data, RJD's Sarfaraz Alam, who had in the earlier rounds trailed behind BJP's Pradip Kumar Singh, was now leading by about 14,500 votes after ninth rounds of counting of votes.

According to election office sources, a total of 28 rounds of counting will take place for results of Araria Lok Sabha seat bypoll necessitated due to demise of RJD MP Mohammad Taslimuddin.

Alam, who crossed over from JD(U) to Lalu Prasad's party RJD to contest the bypoll, is son of Taslimuddin.

RJD was also leading by more than 15,000 votes in Jehanabad assembly seat, where the BJP's ally JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has fielded its candidate.

There were reports of police resorting to mild use of force outside the counting centre in Jehanabad as young RJD supporters indulged in boisterous jubilations over the news of their candidate Suday Yadav establishing an unassailable lead over former MLA and JD(U) nominee Abhiram Sharma.

In Bhabhua, BJP candidate Rinki Rani Pandey seemed comfortably placed with a lead of close to 10,000 votes over her Congress rival Shambhu Singh Patel.