Kolkata, June 4 : Bengali star Deepak Adhikari, aka Dev, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Ghatal on a Trinamool Congress ticket, is currently leading with a margin of over 16,527 votes.

Counting of votes began at 8 A.M. on June 4 and according to the early trends released by the Election Commission, till now Dev has got 1,26,312 votes and is leading by a margin of over 16,527.

His opponent from Ghatal, the BJP's Hiranmoy Chattopadhyaya is trailing with 1,09,785 votes.

The seven phase elections for the 18th Lok Sabha, which began on April 19 and ended on June 1, saw the participation of 642 million voters across the country.

The counting of votes for Odisha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls which were held alongside the Lok Sabha polls is also happening simultaneously on Tuesday.

The counting of votes for the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh Assembly polls took place on June 2.

Apart from politics, Dev has a flourishing career in acting. He also has a production house, Dev Entertainment Ventures.

He made his debut in 2006 with 'Agnishapath'.

He was then seen in films such as 'Premer Kahini', 'Challenge', 'Le Chakka', 'Dui Prithibi', 'Paglu', 'Khokha 2', 'Rangbaaz', 'Chander Pahar' and 'Zulfiqar'.

/IANS