The BJP was leading in the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and three other Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh as counting of votes for bypolls to the four seats was underway on Tuesday.

The bypolls, necessitated due to the death of sitting MLAs and an MP, were held on October 30, and the counting of votes began at 8 am on Tuesday amid tight security, an official said.

In the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil was leading by 14,365 votes over his Congress rival Rajnarayan Singh Purni, the official said.

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In the Raigaon Assembly seat (reserved for SC) in Satna district, BJP candidate Pratima Bagri was leading by 220 votes over Congress’ Kalpana Verma.

In the Prithvipur Assembly seat in Niwari district, BJP’s Shishupal Singh Yadav was ahead of his Congress rival Nitendra Singh Rathore by 430 votes, while in Jobat (reserved for ST) seat of Alirajpur district, BJP’s Sulochana Rawat was leading by 1,956 votes over Congress’ Mahesh Patel, as per the latest trends.

A total of 48 candidates contested the bypolls to the four seats.

The Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat were earlier held by the BJP, while Jobat and Prithvipur Assembly seats were with the Congress.