Giridih, Sep 8 (PTI) Counting of votes began a few minutes after 8 am on Friday for the by-election to the Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand's Giridih district amid tight security, officials said.

The delay of around 10 minutes happened as official fomalities took some time to complete amid heavy rains in the area, they said.

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The polling for the by-election was held on September 5. Of the total 2.98 lakh voters, 64.84 per cent had cast their votes, they said.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto, the state's Education Minister, in April. He had been representing the seat since 2004.

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The JMM has fielded Mahto's wife Bebi Devi as the candidate of the INDIA bloc, while the AJSU Party has nominated Yashoda as the NDA candidate.

The state's ruling coalition is hopeful of retaining the seat riding on the emotional wave over Mahto's death.

The NDA is also hopeful of bagging the constituency with its campaign mainly focussing on the allegations of failures of the JMM-led government in the state.

The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has also fielded a candidate in the seat, which mainly witnessed a contest between JMM and the AJSU Party. Owaisi himself campaigned for party candidate Md Abdul Mobin Rizvi, hoping to make inroads in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)