Counting began on Sunday for the Assembly by-elections in Jharkhand’s Kolebira. The bypoll in Kolebira was necessitated after Jharkhand party MLA Enos Ekka was convicted for a teacher’s murder. There are five candidates in the fray in the Kolebira Assembly constituency. However, the main contest is between the Congress, BJP and Jharkhand Party. The BJP has fielded Basant Soreng, while the Congress candidate is Viksal Kongadi. The Jharkhand Party has put up Menon Ekka. The Congress is supported by all the opposition parties except the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).


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The JMM is supporting Menon Ekka who is the wife of former minister Enos Ekka.


Here are the live updates from the bypoll:


# Congress candidate Naman Bixal Kongari wins by 9658 votes.


# Congress leading by 7000 votes in the 13th round of counting of votes


# After 9 rounds of counting, Congress has extended its lead to over 4000 votes


# The Congress is maintaining to be in the lead. However, only with a slender margin till now. The Congress candidate is 1076 votes ahead of the BJP candidate who stands at the second spot.


# After 2 rounds of Counting, Congress has taken a lead of 1000 votes.


# As per the early trends coming in, the Congress has taken a minor lead in the elections. State co-ordinator and social media cell in-charge for Jharkhand Congress Mayur Shekhar Jha tweeted that the party candidate is leading with 600 votes at around 9:30 am.



# Here is a recap of voting for the elections that took place on Thursday. Watch as voters share their experience.



# Congress on Sunday exuded confidence of winning the bypoll. State co-ordinator and social media cell in-charge for Jharkhand Congress Mayur Shekhar Jha tweeted that there are indications from the ground that party candidate Bixel Kongari is winning the Kolebira assembly by poll.



"Keeping my fingers crossed. All indications from the ground suggest @INCJharkhand candidate Bixel Kongari is winning #Kolebira assembly by poll. @drajoykumar @SinghRPN and @UmangSinghar seem to be on the verge of pulling a miracle, as we were seen as the 4th player," he tweeted.


# The counting of votes began at begin at 8 am.


# A voter turnout of 62.89 per cent was recorded in the bypoll to the Kolebira assembly seat on Thursday.


The bypoll in Kolebira comes just days after results were declared for Assembly elections in five states – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. While the Congress managed to snatch power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won in Telangana and the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram.