Vote counting peaceful, Hanumant Nirani in lead

Belagavi: The counting of votes for three constituencies — the North West Teachers and Graduates' constituencies, and the West Teachers' constituency was held at Jyoti College in Belagavi peacefully on Wednesday, barring some stray incidents.
The personal assistant of Hanumant Nirani, the BJP’s NW Graduates’ constituency candidate, entered the counting hall, which angered Belagavi deputy commissioner Nitesh Patil.
After other agents complained about it, Patil took Nirani’s PA to the task and told the police to send him out.
An independent candidate of the NW Teachers’ constituency, NB Bannur, objected after an excess of five votes were found in a ballot box from Ilkal town in the Bagalkot district. This issue also surfaced while counting the votes of the ballot box from Rotary School, Hubballi, where two votes were found to be in excess.
Clarifying the matter, regional commissioner and election officer Amlan Aditya Biswas said it was a mistake in the counting and everything was fine.
In another incident, Congress agents of the NW Teachers’ constituency in the counting hall alleged that unsealed ballot boxes were brought in. They said the cloth colour of the box also had been changed, which caused some in the counting centre. However, the counting was held systematically and in a peaceful manner.
16,023-vote lead for Nirani after Round 3
BJP candidate Hanumant Nirani in the North-West Graduates’ constituency has got a clear lead in the first three rounds of counting, which were completed before 8 pm. The counting will be on till late in the night for the final result.
Nirani has maintained the lead from the first round against rival Sunil Sank of the Congress.
The lead after the completion of the third round of counting was 16,023 votes. Nirani has got 20,606 votes, while 4,583 votes went to Sank. A total of 65,914 votes were cast in the constituency.
Speaking to the media persons, Nirani expressed confidence in victory.