Guwahati | BJP candidate Devasish Sharma widened his lead over his nearest rival, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, to 81,238 votes, as the counting of votes in the by-election to the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam was underway on Friday, according to the Election Commission.

Sharma, a former IAS officer, polled 2,96,181 votes, while Ajmal secured 2,14,943 votes and Congress nominee Sibamoni Bora was a distant third with 53,624, the EC said on its website.

Counting of votes began at 8 am on Friday amid tight security, officials said.

The process started with postal ballots, followed by votes recorded in EVMs. Counting is being held at two centres -- Dawson Higher Secondary School and Nagaon Government Boys' School in Nagaon -- with 14 tables at each centre.

The parliamentary constituency has eight assembly segments spread over the two districts of Nagaon and Morigaon.

Tight security arrangements have been made at both the centres, and all candidates and political parties have been directed to seek permission from the district administration before taking out any procession.

The main contest is between Sharma, Bora and Ajmal.

A total of 15 candidates are in the fray in the bypoll.

A voter turnout of 76.19 per cent was recorded in the October 6 by-election.

The bypoll was necessitated after Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned and successfully contested the assembly elections from Dispur on a BJP ticket earlier this year. The result, however, will not impact the balance of power in Parliament.

The Nagaon constituency has 19.05 lakh electors, including 9.43 lakh women and 50 third-gender voters, who were eligible to cast their votes across 2,312 polling stations.