Congress-led UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday extended her lead by over two lakh votes after three hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll in Kerala, according to the Election Commission.
According to EC figures at 11.23 am, Priyanka received 3,17,983 votes with LDF's Sathyan Mokeri at second with 1,08,810 and BJP's Navya Haridas third with 60,692 votes.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first. The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13. Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, who is making her electoral debut, CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas. PTI