DEHRADUN: Congress snatched an early lead over the BJP in the Bageshwar assembly bypoll, with its candidate Basant Kumar leading by 195 votes over the saffron party's Parvati Das in the initial round of counting on Thursday.

At the end of the second round of counting, Kumar had garnered 4,554 votes while Das had polled 4,359 votes so far, Bageshwar District Magistrate Anuradha Pal said.

The seat was held since 2007 by the BJP's Chandan Ram Das whose death in April this year necessitated a bypoll to the seat.