Mumbai, Oct 22 (Inditop.com) Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil who is contesting from Amravati, was trailing behind a Congress rebel and former minister Sunil Deshmukh in early trends Thursday.

At the end of the first round of counting, Deshmukh was leading by nearly 1,300 votes against Shekhawat, an Election Commission official said.

Both the Congress’s Shekhawat and rebel-turned independent Deshmukh have made a prestige issue of the seat, one of the most watched in the elections. Shekawat was given the party nomination in preference to Deshmukh, who was the sitting MLA.