Chennai/UNI: Congress candidate and former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan has established a sizeable lead over his AIADMK rival as the counting of votes polled in the February 27 bypoll to the Erode Assembly constituency of Tamil Nadu, progressed, amid tight security on Thursday.

After two rounds of counting, Elangovan, who contested the polls as part of the ruling DMK-led Front, has secured more than 28,000 votes as against Opposition AIADMK candidate and two time MLA K.S.Thennarasu, who has secured over 9.000 votes.

Menaka Navaneethan of Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) is placed third with more than 1,200 votes and S.Anand of actor-politician Vijayakanth-led Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) was a distant fourth having secured a little over 200 voters.

In all 77 candidates had contested the bypolls, the first after the DMK came to power after a gap of 10 years with a resounding win in the May 2021 Assembly polls.