Patna, Aug 3 (PTI) Jan Suraaj Party candidate Prashant Kishor on Monday widened his lead over BJP's Neeraj Kumar Sinha to 10,436 votes in the Bankipur assembly by-election in Bihar as the counting crossed the halfway mark, officials said.Celebrations broke out at the Jan Suraaj Party headquarters and outside the counting centre at A N College here, with supporters dancing to the tunes of local songs and distributing sweets.While political strategist-turned-politician Kishor bagged 35,713 votes, Sinha got 25,277 votes and RJD's Rekha Gupta stood third with 9,316 votes after 18 rounds of counting. A total of 31 rounds of counting will be held.

The counting of votes for the bypoll began at 8 am here on Monday, with all eyes on whether debutant Kishor wrests the seat from the BJP.Talking to reporters in Patna, Bihar ministers Shrawon Kumar and Sunil Kumar, both from the JD(U), said counting was still underway and everyone should have patience until final results were announced.The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of BJP national president Nitin Nabin, who gave up the seat in April upon election to the Rajya Sabha. The BJP has fielded low-key youth wing leader Neeraj Kumar Sinha.

RJD's Rekha Gupta, who lost to BJP's Nitin Nabin in the 2025 assembly elections by a margin of over 50,000 votes, has been fielded again by her party.A little less than 3.8 lakh voters, including 2,00,060 men, 1,79,533 lakh women and 23 third gender persons, were eligible to vote in the polls. The bypoll, held on July 30, recorded a voter turnout of 34.30 per cent (around 1,30,208 voters), down by more than seven per cent from the 41.45 per cent registered in the last assembly elections. RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav visited Baba Harihar Nath Temple in Sonepur and offered prayers before the counting began. PTI SUK  ACD 08031450Agencies