New Delhi, June 23 -- As the vote counting for the assembly by-elections in five constituencies got underway, the official trends by the Election Commission from Kerala's Nilambur seat show UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress leading by 2,286 votes over LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) in the fourth round of counting.

The bypoll for the Nilambur seat was necessitated after the resignation of Left Democratic Front independent legislator PV Anvar, who later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his acrimonious break-up with the ruling alliance.

In the Ludhiana West (Punjab) Assembly by-election, AAP's Sanjeev Arora is leading over Congress's Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 2,482 votes in the second round of counting. BJP's Jiwan Gupta...