New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Counting of votes for 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand began on Saturday at 8 a.m. According to the Election Commission data till 10 a.m., the JMM-led INDIA bloc is leading on more than 35 seats while BJP-led NDA is seen taking the lead on 22 seats.

As per the EC data at 10 a.m., JMM is leading on 20 seats, Congress on 10, RJD on 5 seats while BJP is ahead on 21 seats and AJSUP on 1 seat.

Among the few high-profile seats, CPI-M-L candidate Arup Chatterjee was seen leading in the Nirsa seat of Dhanbad district by 4,843 votes after the first round of counting, while in Bermo seat of Bokaro district, Congress' Jaimangal Singh was ahead after the first round, with a slender lead of 173 votes.

BJP's Raj Sinha is leading in Dhanbad by 2,824 votes. In the Gomiya seat of Bokaro district, Pooja Kumari of JLKM has taken a lead of 2,575 votes in the first round. RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav is leading in Godda seat by 4,913 votes. Sunita Chaudhary of AJSU Party is leading in the Ramgarh seat by 3,043 votes. Independent Devendra Singh is ahead by 2,915 votes in the Panki seat of Palamu district. In the Chatra seat, RJD's Rashmi Prakash has taken the lead by 983 votes after the first round.

Counting centres have been set up in 24 districts of the state. Before the beginning of counting, the locks of the strong rooms were opened this morning, in the presence of Returning Officers, Special Observers of the Election Commission and candidates or their representatives. The entire process of counting is being videographed. Various CCTV cameras have been installed at counting centres.

In the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly, the minimum majority mark to form a government is 41.

In 2019, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance led by Hemant Soren formed the government by securing 47 seats.

This time, the NDA and INDIA bloc are in a tight contest to gain supremacy.

BJP contested elections 68 seats, its alliance partners AJSU Party on 10, JDU 2 and LJP-R on 1 seat. On the other hand, from the INDIA bloc, JMM fielded its candidates on 43 seats, Congress on 30, RJD on 6 and CPI-M-L on 4 seats.