Jharkhand was witnessing a close contest as the BJP-led NDA was leading in 40 of the 81 assembly seats and the JMM-led INDIA bloc in the state was ahead in 37 as the counting of votes was underway on Saturday, officials said.

The counting of votes began at 8 AM.

The Election Commission, however, came out with trends on its website, showing that the INDIA bloc was leading in 19 seats, the NDA in 13 and an independent and JKLM in one each till 9.45 AM.

In Seraikela, former CM and BJP nominee Champai Soren was trailing by 2,986 votes against the JMM's Ganesh Mahli. Kumar Jaimangal Singh of the Congress in Bermo was leading by a margin of 3,610 votes over his nearest rival Ravindra Pandey of the BJP.

Congress nominee Naman Bixal Kongari in Kolebira is ahead of others.

In Simdega, BJP candidate Shradhanand Besra was leading.

BJP's Satyendra Nath Tiwari in Garhwa was ahead by 190 votes over his rival JMM's Mithilesh Kumar Tharkur.

From Koderma, Subhash Yadav of RJD was leading by 1,481 votes over BJP's Neera Yadav.

From Chatra, RJD's Rashmi Prakash was ahead by 988 votes.

The results will decide the electoral fate of a total of 1,211 candidates, including Chief Minister Hemant Soren who contested from Barhait, his wife Kalpana from Gandey, former CM and BJP state president Babulal Marandi from Dhanwar and ex-CM Champai Soren from Seraikela.

Other prominent candidates include Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato of the JMM from Nala, Deepika Pandey Singh of Congress from Mahagama, Sita Soren (sister-in-law of CM Hemant Soren) from Jamtara, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto from Silli.

Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said the counting is underway amid tight security arrangements and is likely to be completed by 4 PM.

The lowest 13-round counting will pertain to the Torpa assembly segment while the counting for the Chatra seat will be held for the highest 24 rounds, he said.

This time, voter turnout reached a record 67.74 per cent, the highest since the formation of Jharkhand on November 15, 2000.

The assembly elections were held in two phases - November 13 and 20.

Forty-three seats went to polls in the first round and 38 in the second.