Bhopal: BJP appears to have established an early lead in most of the Lok Sabha seats, early trends for which were available today (May 13, 2004).

The saffron party candidates were ahead in six of the eight Parliamentary constituencies, for which trends received in the initial hour of counting.

Elections 2004-Where is India heading...
Political Parties in India

Prominent among those leading included BJP State unit chief Kailash Joshi (Bhopal), Union Ministers Satyanarayan Jatiya (Ujjain) and Sumitra Mahajan (Indore).

Congress stalwart Kamal Nath has established an early lead of 4,000 votes over his BJP rival and Union Minister Prahlad Patel.

While, in tribal-dominated Jhabua, Congress' Kantilal Bhuriya, who represented the reserved seat in the 13th Lok Sabha was leading over his nearest BJP rival.

Trends were gradually pouring in from various district headquarters and a clear picture was likely to emerge by this afternoon.