BJP leading in Telangana's Dubbak bypoll

Hyderabad, Nov 10 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading in the Dubbak Assembly constituency in Telangana as the counting was underway in the by-elections.

BJP candidate M. Raghunandan Rao was leading by 2,684 votes at the end of the fourth round over ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate S. Sujatha.

The BJP established a lead in the very first round and the same trend continued in three subsequent rounds.

The by-election held on November 3 saw 82.61 per cent voter turnout.

The counting of votes was taken up at 8 a.m. amid tight security.

A total of 23 candidates are in the fray for the bypoll, necessitated after the death of S. Ramalinga Reddy of the TRS in August this year due to ill-health.

The TRS fielded Ramalinga Reddy's widow Sujatha. She is locked in a three-cornered contest with Congress party's Cheruku Srinivas Reddy and BJP's Raghunandan Rao.