The bypoll was necessitated after disqualification of sitting RJD MLA. (Representational)
The opposition BJP established an initial lead in the by-election to the Kurhani assembly constituency in Muzaffarpur district in Bihar today, a CEO official said.
BJP candidate Kedar Gupta secured 4,194 votes while the JD(U)'s Manoj Singh Kushwaha bagged 2,195 votes after the first round of counting.
Altogether 13 candidates, five of them Independents, are in the fray though the contest is being seen, primarily, as between Gupta and Kushwaha. Both are former MLAs.
The by-poll was necessitated by the disqualification of sitting RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani.
Gupta had lost to Sahani by less than 700 votes in the 2020 assembly polls which BJP and JD(U) had fought in alliance. Now, the JD(U) is a part of "Mahagathbandhan" comprising RJD, Congress and the Left parties.
Nearly 58 per cent of voters exercised their franchise on Monday in the by-poll to Kurhani where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and the BJP have locked horns for the first time since their break-up four months ago.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)