Congress candidates, including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife, are in the lead in all three assembly constituencies in the state where bypolls were held earlier this week, officials said on Saturday. 

The counting of votes for the by-elections in Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh, held on Wednesday, began at 8 am.

Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur was leading by 1,815 votes against her nearest rival and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hoshiyar Singh in the Dehra assembly seat after the sixth round of counting, the officials said.

In the Hamirpur assembly seat, Congress' Pushpinder Verma was ahead by 1,707 votes against BJP candidate Ashish Sharma after the third round of counting, they said.

Congress candidate Hardeep Singh Bawa was also leading by 1,571 votes after the second round against the BJP candidate K L Thakur in the Nalagarh assembly seat, the officials said.

Thirteen candidates were in the fray from the three seats.

The Nalagarh assembly constituency had recorded the highest polling at 79.04 per cent, followed by Hamirpur (67.72 per cent) and Dehra (65.42 per cent).

The overall voting percentage of the three bypolls was 71 per cent, according to the data of the state election department.   -- PTI