Pune, March 2 : The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ashwini L. Jagtap was leading with a comfortable margin in Chinchwad, while the Congress-Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Ravindra Dhangekar was ahead in Kasbapeth Assembly constituencies where counting for the February 26 bypolls got underway on Thursday morning. At 11 a.m, Jagtap had bagged 35,950 votes over her nearest rival, Nationalist Congress Party-MVA's Vithal 'Nana' Kate who secured 28,500 votes, while a Shiv Sena (UBT) rebel contesting as independent was trailing at 11,500 votes, in Chinchwad. Similarly, in Kasbapeth, Dhangekar was leading with a comfortable margin securing 45,700 votes over his nearest BJP rival Hemant Rasane who secured 41,000 votes till 11 a.m. The two bitterly contested bypolls were necessitated on account of the death of the sitting BJP MLAs - Mukta J. Tilak (Kasbapet) and Laxman J. Jagtap (Chinchwad), in December 2022-January 2023. /IANS