BJP leads in 11 out of 14 seats in Jharkhand

New Delhi: 3:00 pm: Riding on a Narendra Modi wave, the BJP has taken a lead in 11 of the fourteen Lok Sabha seats while Congress and its ally JMM, are ahead in the three other constituencies as counting continued in Jharkhand.

The saffron party's Pashupati Nath Singh and Bidyut Baran Mahato established an unassailable lead in Dhanbad and Jamshedpur seats. While Singh is leading by 1,31,926 votes over his nearest Congress rival, Ajay Kumar Dubey, Mahato is ahead by 1,04,463 votes over Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) and sitting MP Ajay Kumar.

Former chief minister and JMM supremo Shibu Soren, who initially trailed BJP's Sunil Soren, surged ahead by 7,569 votes from Dumka (ST) seat while another ex-CM and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric s-JVM) Babulal Marandi is trailing at third.

In Ranchi, former union minister and sitting Congress MP, Subodh Kant Sahay is uncomfortably placed in Ranchi, trailing by a massive 92,000 votes behind BJP's Ram Tahal Choudhary. Former deputy chief minister and Ajsu party president Sudesh Mahto is trailing at third.

In Khunti (ST), Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and BJP candidate Karia Munda is also comfortably leading by 37,322 votes over his nearest Jharkhand Party rival and sitting MLA Anosh Ekka.

BJP's Jayant Sinha, son of former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, has taken a huge lead of 57,962 votes over his nearest three-time Congress MLA Saurabh Narain Singh in Hazaribagh. Sitting BJP MP Ravindra Pandey is also easily placed, leading by 58,357 votes over his nearest rival JMM MLA Jagannath Mahto in Giridih.

New political entrant Vishnu Dayal Ram, Jharkhand s former top cop of Jharkhand and BJP candidate, has established about 76,255 lead over RJD s Manoj Kumar in Palamau (SC) seat. Former Chief Minister Madhu Koda s wife, Gita, is trailing by 57,897 votes to BJP s Laxman Gilua in Singhbhum (ST) constituency.

In Chatra, Sunil Kumar Singh of the BJP is ahead by 43.180 votes over his nearest JVM rival Nilam Devi. In an interesting tussle for Godda seat, Furkan Ansari of the Congress and BJP s Nishikant Dubey are swapping leads with Ansari now leading by a narrow 1504 votes.

Former union minister and Congress candidate Rameshwar Oraon is leading by 2,595 votes over sitting BJP MP Sudarshan Bhagat in Lohardaga constituency.

BJP s state unit president Ravindra Rai has a narrow 761 votes lead over CPI (ML-Liberation s) Raj Kumar Yadav in Kodarma while BJP s Hemlal Murmu is also leading narrowly by 5095 votes over his nearest JMM rival Vijay Kumar Hansdak in Raj Mahal seat.

Counting is into various rounds in all the 14 seats, according to Election Commission sources.

12:30 pm: BJP's Sunil Kumar Singh is leading in the Chatra Lok Sabha constituency after the completion of postal ballot counting in Jharkhand, official sources said.

Singh is pitted against Congress Dhiraj Prasad Sahu and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) Nilam Devi.

10:50 am: BJP's Sunil Kumar Singh is leading in the Chatra Lok Sabha constituency after the completion of postal ballot counting in Jharkhand.

Singh is pitted against Congress Dhiraj Prasad Sahu and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha(Prajatantric) Nilam Devi. BJP s Ravindra Kumar Rai is leading in Koderma. His closest opponents are CPI (ML-Liberation) Raj Kumar Yadav and Congress Tilakdhari Prasad Singh.

Former chief minister and JMM supremo Shibu Soren is trailing BJP's Sunil Soren by 642 votes in Dumka.

Another former chief Minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) president Babulal Marandi is in the third position after the completion of third round.

Former union minister and sitting MP Subodh Kant Sahay of the Congress is trailing BJP candidate and three-time MP Ram Tahal Choudhary in Ranchi by over 2000 votes.

BJP's Ravindra Rai is leading by five votes in Koderma. His closest opponents are CPI (ML-Liberation s) Raj Kumar Yadav and Congress Tilakdhari Prasad Singh.

In Jharkhand, the BJP is likely to register a huge victory. Various exit polls have predicted more than 10 seats for the saffron party in Jharkhand.

In 2009, the Congress-JMM alliance was slightly ahead of the BJP, the latter had won eight of the 14 seats and the BJP leaders are hopeful of winning at least 10 seats this time.

An epic battle of two former chief ministers unfolded in the Dumka (ST) seat as sitting MP Shibu Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha contested against Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)'s Babulal Marandi.

While the BJP fielded Sunil Soren, a one-time protege of Shibu Soren, to try and prevent an eighth Lok Sabha poll win for the JMM chief in Dumka.

Interestingly, Sunil Soren was lured away from Shibu Soren by Babulal Marandi, who, however, later left BJP to start the JVM(P) in 2006.

Counting of votes began at 8 am on Friday.

Key candidates in the fray are:

Shibu Soren - JMM - Dumka

Babulal Marandi - JVMP - Dumka

Sunil Soren - BJP - Dumka

(With additional inputs from PTI)