In close contest, BJP leads in Mandar bypoll in Jharkhand

BJP candidate Gangotri Kujur was leading marginally as votes were being counted for the Mandar by-election in Jharkhand's Ranchi district on Sunday, officials said.

After two rounds of counting, Kujur was leading by 112 votes against her nearest rival of the Congress. She secured 8,041 votes, while Congress candidate Shilpi Neha Tirkey got 7,929 votes, they said.

AIMIM-backed Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan got 3,048 votes.

After the first round of counting, the Congress candidate was leading by 50 votes.

Over 61 per cent of the total 3.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the election, held on June 23, he said.

The by-election was necessitated after the disqualification of Bandhu Tirkey as an MLA in the wake of his conviction in a corruption case.

A special CBI court in Jharkhand had on March 28 sentenced Tirkey to three years imprisonment.

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