The Congress party’s Jitesh Antapurkar was leading in Maharastra’s Deglur assembly bye-polls by over 6,000 votes after the fifth round of counting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Subhash Sabne polled 12,077 votes and Antapurkar 18,247 votes. Antapurkar, who has been leading from the first round of the counting, is the joint candidate of Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi.
The BJP has said it will replicate its performance in the Pandharpur bye-polls in May in Deglur. The BJP won in May even as the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Congress jointly contested the Pandharpur bye-polls.
Major leaders from three parties campaigned in Pandharpur in western Maharashtra.
The Deglur bye-polls were necessitated because of the death of the Congress’s two-time lawmaker Raosaheb Antapurkar in April. The constituency is reserved for scheduled caste candidates. The Congress has fielded Raosaheb Antapurkar’s son Jitesh Antapurkar, while Prakash Ambedkar-led Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi has fielded Uttam Ingole.
Sabne, a three-term lawmaker from Nanded, defected from the Shiv Sena to the BJP two days ahead of filing the nominations.