Congress leads in Mandar bypoll in Jharkhand

Congress candidate Shilpi Neha Tirkey was leading by 11,245 votes as counting was underway on Sunday afternoon for the by-election to the Mandar assembly seat in Jharkhand's Ranchi district, officials said.

After 11 rounds of counting, Tirkey was found to have secured 49,819 votes, while her nearest rival Gangotri Kujur of the BJP bagged 38,574 votes, as per the Election Commission.

AIMIM-backed Independent candidate Dev Kumar Dhan got 15,923 votes.

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

The by-election was necessitated after the disqualification of the Congress candidate's father 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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