The counting of votes for four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly bypolls in ten states began early Thursday. Counting for votes in one Karanataka Assembly is also on.

The four Lok Sabha constituencies are Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar in Maharashtra, and the lone Parliamentary seat in Nagaland.

The 10 Vidhan Sabha seats are in Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon), Uttar Pradesh (Noorpur), Bihar (Jokihat), Jharkhand (Gomia and Silli), Kerala (Chengannur), Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Uttarakhand (Tharali) and West Bengal (Maheshtala).

The Bharatiya Janata Party is trailing in Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana and Maharashtra’s Bhandara-Gondia, while it is leading in one other Lok Sabha seat from Maharashtra (Palghar). In Kairana, RLD’s Tabassum Begum is leading.

In Punjab’s Shahkot Assembly seat, Congress candidate Hardev Singh Ladi Sherowalia was leading over his Shiromani Akali Dal rival Naib Singh Kohar by over 2,000 votes. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Rattan Singh is far behind at the third spot.

In Kerala’s Chengannur Assembly seat, CPI-M candidate Saji Cherian recorded early lead with Congress candidate D. Vijayakumar at the second position followed by the BJP’s P.S.Sreedharan Pillai.

Also Read | Kairana, Noorpur bypolls: Counting of votes begins

In Assembly seat from Uttar Pradesh’s Noorpur, the candidate of Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party Naim-Ul-Hassan is leading.

The Congress is leading in four Assembly seats — Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Karnataka (Rajarajeshwarinagar – 2018 Assembly polls) and Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon).

The Kairana bypoll was necessitated following the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh in February. The byelection in Noorpur Assembly seat was necessitated due to the death of BJP MLA Lokendra Singh Chauhan in a road accident in February.

The Shahkot seat in Punjab fell vacant following the death of sitting Akali Dal legislator Ajit Singh Kohar in February. Kohar, a former minister, was elected five times from this seat. His son Naib Singh Kohar was fielded by the Akali Dal.

The bypolls for the Chengannur Assembly in Kerala seat was necessitated following the death of CPI-M legislator K.K. Ramachandran Nair in January.

Palghar’s election was necessitated after the death of BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga in January this year, and Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP’s son, Shriniwas Wanaga, from the seat.

Also Read | Congress faces tough fight in Akali stronghold

In Bhandra-Gondia, the byelection was necessitated because BJP MP Nana Patole quit over farmer issues and resigned from the party.

Nagaland bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of MP Neiphiu Rio to contest the Assembly elections in February. Rio is the current chief minister of the state.