Hyderabad, Feb 16 (IANS): Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate established an early lead in the by-election to Narayankhed assembly constituency in Telangana's Medak district of as counting of votes began on Tuesday.
TRS candidate M. Bhupal Reddy was leading by over 7,000 votes at the end of the third round of counting, Election Commission officials said.
P. Sanjeeva Reddy of Congress was second and Telugu Desam party's Vijayapal Reddy was at third place.
There will be total 21 rounds of counting and the result is expected by noon.
In the by-election held on Saturday, 81.72 percent of 1.88 lakh voters had cast their votes.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress legislator P. Kishta Reddy in August 2015.
The Congress party, which fielded Kishta Reddy's son Sanjeeva Reddy, is banking on sympathy wave while TRS is looking to capture the Congress stronghold.