New Delhi, Nov 10 (IANS): Initial trend in Tuesday's counting of the Madhya Pradesh bypolls showed the ruling BJP clearly ahead of the Congress.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in nine seats while the Congress is leading in two. The trends are available for only 11 out of the 28 seats, as per the Election Commission.

The by-elections in 25 of the 28 seats in the 230-member Assembly took place on November 3 and were necessitated due to the resignations of Congress MLAs who later joined the BJP.

They are in the fray as BJP candidates in 25 seats. In the remaining three segments, bypolls were necessitated due to the demise of the sitting legislators.

At present, of the total 201 segments which are represented in the Assembly, the BJP has 107 seats, Congress 87, Independents four, two BSP, and one Samajwadi Party. So, while the BJP needs to win only eight more seats, the Congress will still be short by one MLA in case it wins all 28 seats for which bypolls were held.