Saturday, October 1 2005 14:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chandigarh: Deepinder Hooda, Congress candidate and son of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency was leading by 1.27 lakh votes after the counting of 2.45 lakh votes.

Deepinder had polled 1,75,014 votes and was followed by Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Abhimanyu who had got 47,586 votes till the last reports came in. The INLD was trailing a poor third with its candidate Balwan Singh Suhag polling 18,300 votes.

About 50 per cent of the 10.50 lakhs voters had exercised their franchise in the by-election earlier this week. The counting is expected to be completed by afternoon.

The by-election was necessitated due to resignation of Bhupinder Singh Hooda following his election to the state assembly from the Kiloi assembly constituency.