Kolkata, June 23 (UNI) West Bengal ruling Trinamool Congress candidate Alifa Ahmed was leading at the end of the first round as counting began amid tight security for the Kaliganj assembly bypoll in Nadia district on Monday, official sources said.
The bypoll was held on June 19 in which some 73 per cent voters of more than 2,5 lakh electors had exercised their voting right.
The election office said that after the first round of counting, which began at 8 am, of postal ballots, 28-year old Alifa Ahmed was leading over her two rivals of Congress and BJP.
While Ahmed got 4545 votes, her nearest rival Left Front-supported Congress nominee Kabil Uddin Sheikh got 1830 votes and BJP's Ashish Ghosh was training to third with 1,122 votes.
In all, 23 rounds of counting are to be held for the triangular contest that took place peacefully on Thursday last.
The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting TMC MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed, father of the TMC candidate, earlier this year.
UNI PC PRS