Shillong, March 2 : Conrad Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) is maintaining a lead in 23 seats as counting of votes got underway on Thursday for the February 27 Meghalaya Assembly polls. Compared to the two seats they won in the 2018 elections, the BJP is ahead in almost 10 seats, according to the early trends in counting. While the Trinamool Congress is leading in 10 seats, the Congress party, which was the single largest party in Meghalaya in the last Assembly election, is trailing. The grand-old party is leading in only nine seats. The other regional party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), has been projected to win six seats. It is to be mentioned that UDP was a part of the NPP-led government in Meghalaya for the last five years, although the party has not forged an alliance with the NPP and fought the election separately. /IANS