The TMC was ahead of its rivals in three of the six Assembly seats as counting of postal ballots for the West Bengal bypolls was underway, TV channels reported on Saturday.

The counting of votes began at 8 am.

The constituencies that went to the polls are Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (SC), and Madarihat (ST).

Bengali news channel ABP Ananda reported that TMC was leading in Naihati constituency in North 24 Parganas and Taldangra constituency in Bankura.

Another Bengali news channel News 18 Bangla reported that TMC was leading in Naihati and Haroa seats.

The Election Commission, however, is yet to come out with any trend as of now on its website.

Five of these seats are in the TMC's stronghold in south Bengal, while Madarihat, which was won by the BJP in 2021, remains a saffron bastion in the northern part of the state.

The by-elections were necessitated following the resignation of MLAs who had won seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leaving their assembly constituencies vacant.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.