Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Congress were ahead in one seat each as votes were counted for the bypolls to two assembly constituencies Tuesday.

Polling was held Sept 13.

Trinamool Congress candidate former Indian soccer captain Dipendu Biswas was in the lead in Basirhat South. Congress nominee Santosh Pathak was ahead in Chowringhee.

In Chowringhee, after trailing in the initial round, Pathak left behind Nayna Bandopadhyay of the Trinamool. Nayna, actress-wife of Trinamool parliamntary party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay, is a former legislator.

BJP state secretary Ritesh Tiwari was in the third position, followed by Faiyaz Ahmed Khan of the CPI-M.

In Basirhat South, initial trends put Biswas ahead of his nearest rival BJP's Samik Bhattacharya by over 7,000 votes.

The others in fray from the seat include Congress' Asit Majumder and Mrinal Chakrabarty from the CPI-M.

The death of CPI-M legislator Narayan Mukherjee necessitated polling in Basirhat (South). The Chowringhee bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Trinamool legislator Sikha Mitra, who won the 2011 election but quit the party.