Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh strengthened his lead over his BJP rival Dara Singh Chauhan with a margin of 22,923 votes after the 17th round of counting in the Ghosi assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

According to the Election Commission (EC), while Singh has garnered 66,707 votes so far, Chauhan has got 43,784 votes. There will be 34 rounds of counting.

The counting of votes for the bypoll, which is being seen as the first major electoral clash between the NDA and opposition bloc INDIA, began at 8 am.

The fate of the 10 candidates in the fray was sealed by voters on Tuesday. A voter turnout of 50.77 per cent was recorded in Ghosi, which falls under Mau district.

The Ghosi bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, from the Samajwadi Party in July. He returned to the BJP and was fielded by the party in the bypoll.

In the 2022 polls, Chauhan had defeated BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Rajbhar by a margin of 22,216 votes.

This time, Chauhan is being supported by NDA partners Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, a former SP ally.

On the other hand, some INDIA bloc constituents -- Congress, CPI(M), CPI, RLD, AAP, CPI(ML)-Liberation and Suheldev Swabhiman Party -- have extended support to Singh.

The bypoll will have no bearing on the BJP government, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the 403-member state assembly. However, its outcome could be an indicator of what is in store for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for the INDIA bloc.

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 MPs to the 543-member Lok Sabha.

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