As per the early trends, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is leading in more than 300 Lok Sabha seats, while the UPA is ahead in 91 constituencies. The BJP has crossed its 2014 mark and is currently leading in 285 seats. Counting of votes for the 17th Lok Sabha started at 8 am on Thursday, 23 May and the results are expected by late in the evening.
Snapshot
- PM Modi is seeking a second term in office from Varanasi, his current parliamentary seat
- The Opposition parties are trying to cobble up an alliance to defeat the BJP at the Centre
- A party or coalition needs 272 seats in the Parliament to form the government
10:05 AM, 23 May
BJP Crosses 2014 Numbers, Leading in 285 Seats
As per the early trends, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is leading in more than 300 Lok Sabha seats, while the UPA is ahead in 91 constituencies.
The BJP has crossed its 2014 mark and is currently leading in 285 seats.
9:52 AM, 23 May
BJP Leading in 22 Seats in Karnataka
As per the early trends, BJP is leading in 22 of the 28 seats in Karnataka.
9:48 AM, 23 May
Union Minister RS Prasad Leading in Patna Sahib
BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad is leading against the Congress’ Shatrughan Sinha in the Patna Sahib constituency.
9:43 AM, 23 May
DMK-Congress Cadres Celebrate Outside DMK Headquarters in Chennai
9:39 AM, 23 May
Rajnath Singh Leading in Lucknow With 17,994 Votes
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading in Lucknow with 17,994. SP candidate Poonam Sinha is trailing with 7,226.
9:34 AM, 23 May
Close Contest in Raebareli
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is leading by a very thin margin in Raebareli. She is against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh.
9:31 AM, 23 May
Markets Open at Record Highs as NDA Leads in Over 250 Seats
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 opens at record highs as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance takes lead in early trends.
9:17 AM, 23 May
Took the Lead From Start and Holding on to It, Says Shashi Tharoor
As the early trends suggested that the sitting MP and Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor is leading from Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor took to Twitter to welcome the news but with a little caveat that just “4% of the votes” have been counted.
9:13 AM, 23 May
Delhi BJP Headquarters Exhibit Positivity
9:03 AM, 23 May
PM Narendra Modi Leading in Varanasi
Prime Minister and BJP candidate Narendra Modi is leading in Varanasi. His main contenders are Congress’ Ajay Rai and Mahagathbandhan’s Shalini Yadav.
8:55 AM, 23 May
BJP's Pragya Thakur Leading Against Digvijaya Singh in Bhopal
BJP candidate Pragya Thakur is leading against Digvijaya Singh in Bhopal.
8:46 AM, 23 May
Rahul Gandhi Trailing Smriti Irani in Amethi
Congress President Rahul Gandhi is trailing BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi seat. However, he is leading in the Wayanad seat.
8:45 AM, 23 May
Activity outside BJP Office in Lucknow
8:25 AM, 23 May
BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan Leading in Thiruvananthapuram
As of 8:28 am, BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan is leading in Thiruvananthapuram. Congress’ Shashi Tharoor is the sitting MP and Congress’ candidate from the state.
8:21 AM, 23 May
Home Minister Rajnath Singh Leading in Lucknow
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading in initial trends. Samajwadi Party’s Poonam Sinha is his main contender.
8:17 AM, 23 May
Workers Offer Prayers Outside AICC Office in Delhi
8:02 AM, 23 May
Counting of Votes for 542 Constituencies Started at 8 am
Live Election Results: Counting of votes for the 17th Lok Sabha started at 8 am on Thursday, 23 May and the results are expected by late in the evening.
7:30 AM, 23 May
Rahul Gandhi Will Be the PM, Says Cong's Ajay Maken
Minutes before the counting begins, Congress’ candidate from New Delhi Ajay Maken says that the grand old party will win and form the government.
“The results will be definitely be in the favour of Congress. We are expecting that Congress will win and form government. Rahul Gandhi will be the prime minister. The fight in Delhi is between BJP and Congress.”
7:07 AM, 23 May
I Am Sure We Will Win, Says BJP's Tejasvi Surya
BJP candidate from Bengaluru South constituency Tejasvi Surya exudes confidence, says we will win.
“I am sure we will win. I am confident I will be able to contribute to legislation and policy making in this country,” says Surya.
6:30 AM, 23 May
Activity Begins Outside Counting Centres
5:09 AM, 23 May
'Verdict Will Make BJP's Arrogance Disappear', Says Akhilesh Yadav
4:08 AM, 23 May
Matching VVPAT Slips Likely To Delay Election Results
Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections, in which over 8,000 candidates were in the fray for 542 seats, will begin at 8 am and results are expected only by late evening, due to tallying of voter verified paper audit trail slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) count for the first time.
67.11 percent of the 90.99 crore electors had cast their vote in the seven phase elections. This is the highest ever-voter turnout in Indian parliamentarian elections.
This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.
2:59 AM, 23 May
MHA Alerts States over Possible Violence Ahead of Counting Day
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sent an alert to State Chief Secretaries and Director General’s of Police, about the possibility of violence in different parts of the country relating to the counting of votes, ANI reported. The MHA has asked the states and UTs to maintain law and order, peace and public tranquillity.
States/UTs were also asked to take adequate measures for the security of strong rooms and venues of counting of votes.
2:03 AM, 23 May
EC Refused to Change the Counting Process
The Election Commission on Wednesday refused to make any changes to the counting process as demanded by the Opposition parties on Tuesday in a meeting with the commission.
The Opposition parties had demanded the tallying of VVPATs with EVMs before the counting process.
1:10 AM, 23 May
Lok Sabha Elections 2019: What Has Happened So Far?
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections are one of the most bitterly fought polls which were contested between April and May.
Voting commenced on 11 April and came to an end on 19 May across 542 constituencies, marked by controversial speeches across the political spectrum, questions raised over EC’s functioning and reports of intermittent violence, especially in West Bengal.
The key states to look out for are Uttar Pradesh, with its 80 seats; Maharashtra, with 48 seats; West Bengal, with 42 seats; and Bihar, with 40 seats.
A three-cornered contest is being witnessed in UP, with the BJP taking on the Mahagathbandhan (SP+BSP+RLD) and the Congress. In Maharashtra, the Congress-NCP combine is fighting the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
Trying to make inroads into West Bengal, the BJP is locked in a bitter contest with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the state.
In Bihar, the RJD-Congress alliance (along with other smaller parties) is fighting the NDA coalition comprising Nitish Kumar's JD(U), BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.
1:07 AM, 23 May
Who is Likely to Play Kingmaker?
If the BJP might fall short of the majority then three regional parties that can play kingmaker are: YSR Congress President Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telangana Chief Minister and TRS Chief K Chandrashekhar Rao and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.
Reddy is fighting the elections on the plank of giving special status to Andhra Pradesh. His first fight in his state is against Chandrababu Naidu. The BJP is also fighting to build a presence in Andhra. Thus with the promise of giving special status to Andhra Pradesh, Reddy can ally with the BJP.
Telangana CM KCR has advocated for a third front and has projected himself as an anti-BJP and anti-Congress leader. But KCR might ally with the BJP on the pretext of getting money from the Centre for the welfare of the state.
It is a little difficult to gauge the mood of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who has maintained his distance from the BJP calling it a communal party. But when it comes to opposing, he usually settles for the middle ground.