Noida: BJP's Mahesh Sharma leading by over 2 lakh votes

Union minister and BJP leader Mahesh Sharma is leading by a margin of over two lakh votes from the Gautam Budhh Nagar seat after 28 rounds of counting for the Lok Sabha polls, the district election office said.

By 8.30 pm, Sharma had 6.45 lakh votes across the five assembly segments of Noida, Jewar, Dadri, Sikandrabad and Khurja that constitute the Gautam Buddh Nagar parliamentary seat, it said.

Bahujan Samaj Party's Satveer Nagar, whose candidature is also backed by the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, is running second with 4.26 lakh votes. Congress' Arvind Kumar Singh is trailing with 32,802 votes, according to the district election office.

So far, 6,748 NOTA (None of the Above) votes have been counted, more than what any of the remaining 10 candidates, including Independents, have polled, official data showed.

A total of 11.27 lakh votes were counted by the end of the 24th round at around 8 pm, the office said.

The counting is underway at Phool Mandi in Noida.