Lucknow: Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav was leading by more than 49,000 votes over her BJP rival in counting on Thursday to the by-poll for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, in Uttar Pradesh. Bharatiya Janata Party's Raghuraj Singh Shakya is trailing in counting in his kitty so far in the six-cornered contest. The counting of votes for the by-polls in six Assembly constituencies in five states including the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh began on Thursday. The counting began at 8 am to decide the fate of the candidates contesting the polls, among whom all eyes will be on the wife of Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, who is contesting from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the demise of Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav in October. The polling was held on December 5 in six assembly seats in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat. Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar, and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh are the assembly seats where results will be declared today. Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder daughter-in-law and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav is the SP candidate in Mainpuri, while BJP has pitted Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a former confidant of Mulayam's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav.
