Maha bypoll: BJP leads in Palghar, Shiv Sena trails

The BJP candidate was today leading by more than 10,000 votes over his Shiv Sena rival in the counting for Palghar Lok Sabha seat bypoll in Maharashtra.

After the fifth round of counting today, the BJP's nominee, Rajendra Gavit, secured 44,589 votes while the Shiv Sena's Shrinivas Wanaga polled 34,218 votes, an election official said.

The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi candidate, Baliram Jadhav, was at the third place with 32,294 votes after the fifth round.

The results of the two Lok Sabha seats -- Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya -- in Maharashtra are important for all four major political parties - BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP - as the outcome is likely to have a bearing on their future course.

The polling, held on Monday, was marred by allegations of malfunctioning in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines.

Following the Election Commission's order, re-polling was yesterday held at 49 booths in five of the six Assembly segments in Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency.

However, no re-polling was ordered in the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency.

The by-election in Palghar was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The Bhandara-Gondiya seat was vacated after BJP's Nana Patole resigned from the party and quit his Lok Sabha membership.

As many as 25 candidates were in the fray for the two seats - 18 in Bhandara-Gondiya and seven in Palghar.