Bhopal: Congress candidate Nilanshu Chaturvedi established a comfortable lead of more than 17,000 votes over his nearest BJP rival Shankar Dayal Tripathi at the end of the 12th round of counting in Chitrakoot Assembly by-poll in Madhya Pradesh.

The counting of votes polled in the November 9 by-election began at around 8 am amid tight security in Satna district, around 400km from here.

Chaturvedi was leading by 17,355 ballots over Tripathi at the end of the 12th round of counting, an election official said.

Around 65 per cent voting was recorded in the by-poll necessitated following the death of sitting Congress MLA Prem Singh (65).

Singh had won the assembly constituency, bordering Uttar Pradesh, in the 1998, 2003 and 2013 elections.