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Updated: May 23, 2019 10:08 IST

The BJP’s Pragya Singh Thakur is leading against Congress’ Digvijaya Singh by a margin of 3,105 votes in the Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh, as per initial trends as votes were being counted in the Lok Sabha election on Thursday.

Pragya Thakur was named the BJP’s candidate from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal in a surprise choice against the Congress’ former chief minister Digvijaya Singh. She is facing trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case where six people died and at least 100 were injured.

The 49-year old has been under fire for several of her controversial comments against several people, including former chief of the Mumbai anti-terrorist squad Hemant Karkare.

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In her last remarks, Thakur talked about Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, who she said was “a patriot, is a patriot, and will remain a patriot those who call him a terrorist should look within they will get a reply in this election”. She was responding to a comment made by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, who had claimed Godse was the first “Hindu extremist” in independent India.

The saffron-clad woman monk later apologised for her statement as she was hit by a barrage of criticism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on last Friday he will never be able to forgive Thakur for insulting Mahatma Gandhi. The BJP’s president Amit Shah also said on Friday that the party had served Thakur a show cause notice and asked her to reply within ten days over her comment.

She had said in April that former chief of the Mumbai ATS Hemant Karkare was killed because of her “curse”. Thakur had alleged Karkare tortured her while she was in custody in connection with the Malegaon blasts case. Karkare was killed fighting terrorists during the attacks on Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

She also boasted about her role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Thakur again apologised for her remarks on Karkare and Babri Masjid. The Election Commission barred her from campaigning for 72 hours over her two comments.