14 March,2018 12:26 PM IST | Lucknow | IANS
Narendra Modi
Counting of votes for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh began amid tight security on Wednesday, a poll official said. In the initial rounds of counting, BJP is leading in both seats. While in the Gorakhpur bypoll, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Upendra Dutt Shukla is leading; in Phulpur, Allahabad, Kaushlendra Singh Patel also of BJP is leading with a slender margin, an official said.
Initially the postal ballots were being counted after which the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be opened for counting. Results for both the seats were likely to be announced by 12 noon. The Gorakhpur seat was vacated by Yogi Adityanath after he became Chief Minister while the Phulpur seat fell vacant after the election of his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya as an MLC in the state assembly.
Amid poor balloting - 43 per cent in Gorakhpur and 37.39 per cent in Phulpur, both the ruling as well as the opposition was claiming victory. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has extended support to the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates in both the seats.
ALSO READ
Mid-Day Top News: Maharashtra assembly polls likely only after Diwali and more
Congress: Centre insensitive to statehood restoration demand, will be poll issue
Raut defends Uddhav's push for decision on CM's face from MVA allies
Yunus accuses Sheikh Hasina of destroying Bangladesh's institutions
Harris scared to do an interview on her own: Donald Trump's election campaign
Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever