CHANDIGARH: The counting of votes for the bypoll to the Baroda assembly seat is under way in Haryana.
The counting began at 8 am, officials said. There will be 20 rounds of counting. Three-tier security has been provided at the counting centre in Mohana, Sonipat, they said.
The polling on November 3 for the Baroda assembly seat had recorded an overall turnout of 68.57 per cent, sealing the fate of 14 candidates.
The Baroda assembly seat fell vacant in April following the death of Congress MLA Shri Krishan Hooda, who had won it thrice consecutively in the 2009, 2014 and 2019 assembly polls.
The Baroda bypoll was seen as a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
The BJP fielded Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt who had lost the 2019 assembly poll by about 4,800 votes to Hooda.
The Congress this time nominated former Sonipat Zila Parishad member Indu Raj Narwal and the INLD's candidate is Joginder Malik.
Seven independents and four candidates belonging to other parties, including former Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini who heads the Loktantra Suraksha Party, are in the fray from the constituency.