Lucknow, Oct 24 (IANS): The Congress is up in arms over its candidate Noman Masood being declared defeated in the last round in the bypoll to the Gangoh Assembly constituency.

UP Congress leaders sat on dharna at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Lucknow to protest against this 'malpractice'.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "The BJP is so full of arrogance that its minister is trying to change the people's verdict by driving our winning candidate out of the counting centre. District Magistrate was called five times on the phone to reduce the lead of our candidate. This is an insult to democracy and the UP Congress will strongly fight against this. The Election Commission must get this probed impartially."

Noman Masood had been leading the vote count since morning, but as the last round neared, he, his agents and mediapersons were asked to leave the counting area.

Later, the Returning Officer declared BJP's Keerat Singh elected.