Bhopal, Feb 28 (IANS): The Congress on Wednesday took a lead in both Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Following the third round of counting in Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav is ahead of Devendra Jain of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 1,280 votes; whereas, in Mungaoli, Congress' Brijendra Singh Yadav is leading with 1,373 votes against BJP's Bai Sahib.

Turning the tables in Mungaoli, Congress took the lead from the BJP after the second round of counting of votes that began at 8 a.m.

In Kolaras, Congress has won 10,928 votes and in Mungaoli it has 11,156, so far.

A total of 22 candidates from Mungaoli and 13 from Kolaras were in the fray for the February 24 polls. There was 77.25 per cent voting recorded in Mungaoli and 72.82 per cent in Kolaras on Saturday.

Both these seats were keenly contested in a prestige battle between the two parties ahead of the assembly polls in the state due later in 2018.

Mungaoli and Kolaras saw high-voltage campaigns from the ruling BJP and the Congress which is keen to retain both seats.

While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the BJP campaign with a host of ministers, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia led the opposition attack.

Both the seats fall under Scindia's parliamentary constituency Guna and were earlier held by the Congress.

The BJP that has been in power for 15 years in the state pitched for development in the Congress bastion. Having lost two assembly bypolls to the Congress last year, the BJP is keen on recovering lost ground.

The assembly seats fell vacant after the death of sitting Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli) and Ram Singh Yadav (Kolaras).