Bengaluru, May 4 -- Congress tightened its grip on the high-stakes Bagalkot Assembly bypoll on Monday, steadily widening its lead over the BJP as counting progressed, while Davanagere South witnessed a tense and closely fought contest with the BJP holding a slender edge.
In Bagalkot, Congress candidate Umesh Meti emerged firmly ahead after 13 rounds of counting, polling 53,849 votes against BJP candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath's 43,528 votes, opening up a sizeable lead of 10,321 votes. Counting is underway at the University of Horticultural Sciences, where trends through successive rounds continued to favour the Congress.
The Congress had earlier crossed the 11,000-vote lead mark after the ninth round itself, signalling strong moment...