Sonia maintains big lead after second round of counting

Rae Bareli, May 11M AICC President Sonia Gandhi was leading by a margin of over 68,000 votes over nearest rival Rajkumar Chaudhury of the Samajwadi party in the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency after the second round of counting.

After round two of counting, Ms Gandhi was leading by a margin of 68,186 votes from Mr Chaudhury. While Ms Gandhi managed 78,880 votes, Mr Chaudhury followed with 10,694 votes, returning officer for the Rae Bareli LS bypoll and district magistrate Jitendra Kumar said here. BJP's Vinay Katiyar was trailing in the third spot, way behind Mr Chaudhury while Uma Bharti-sponsored Apna Dal candidate Prabha Singh Lodh had managed a mere 147 rpt 147 votes after round one of counting.

After round one, Ms Gandhi was leading by a margin of over 23,000 votes over Mr Chaudhury.

Earlier, Ms Gandhi had all the postal ballots going in her favour as counting began in the high-profile constituency.

Out of the total 11 postal ballots received, eight were rejected on technical grounds. The three valid ballots were for Ms Gandhi.

Counting began at 0800 hrs amidst tight security even as Ms Gandhi's daughter and polling agent Priyanka Vadra reached the counting centre well before the stipulated time.

Confusion prevailed at the counting centre at Industrial Training Institute (ITI) campus when mediapersons were not allowed entry inside. The matter was later resolved and they were permitted inside in batches.

The results are likely to be declared by 1300 hrs.

UNI