The BJP was today leading in the Palghar Lok Sabha seat while the NCP was ahead in the Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra, officials said as votes were counted for the two bypolls held earlier this week.
In Bhandara-Gondiya, NCP candidate Madhukar Kukde was leading with 85,160 votes while the BJP's Hemant Patle was at second place with 80,131 votes after the fifth round of counting.
In Palghar, BJP's Rajendra Gavit maintained his lead by securing 1,55,608 votes while Shiv Sena's Shrinivas Wanaga got 1,36,552 votes at the end of 14 rounds of counting, officials said.
Besides, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi's nominee Baliram Jadhav got 1,16,045 votes, Kiran Ghala of the CPI(M) got 54,788 while Congress' Damodar Shingda secured 30,059 votes.
The division of votes between the Shiv Sena and the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi is being seen as a significant factor in the BJP's surge in the tribal constituency.
The by-election in Palghar was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. While the Bhandara-Gondiya seat was vacated after BJP's Nana Patole resigned from the party and quit his Lok Sabha membership.
The results of the two Lok Sabha bypolls 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 of action.
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.
As many as 25 candidates were in the fray for the two seats - 18 in Bhandara-Gondiya and seven in Palghar.
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